Team Captain and the General of Brain Camp 

Happy Mother’s Day to the Team Captain and the General of Brain Camp 

My Mother is the OG. She has mothered me and pretty much an entire community/church. She’s the ultimate advocate. The woman who flew across the country when I was hospitalized and then stayed with me in a one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan after surgery for 6 weeks.

Most people know my Mom as the P.A., the Pastor’s Wife, the Vacation Guru, the Bible Study queen, or the Team Mom. But the select few get the pleasure of knowing that she is a competitor and will beat any human with Spades/Bid Whist/Dominos. 

When I was a kid, I had the privilege to be on her team (sometimes) and I have also been an opp, demolished by her expertise. And she will beat you gracefully without shame. 

After I had a surgery plan, I knew that my brain would never work the same. Where my tumor was, it was affecting my speech and math reasoning. I wasn’t even able to do short math like 2+2=4. So General Michelene put me in “Brain Camp”. Which includes her demolishing me with daily games. The first two or three nights, I almost quit. Dominos. Spades and Scrabble quickly because my nemesis and this woman showed me no mercy.  

But I took my whipping like a champ and eventually graduated Brain Camp. And while the score sheets were relentless, I will always have an everlasting respect for General Michelene.  I have already admired her intelligence, but the level of dedication she has shown to get me through the last two years is unmatched. She knew that gamification for me would take my mind off the daunting task of recovery. 

So happy Mother’s Day to the Team Captain and the General of Brain Camp. I do not foresee a “traditional motherhood” in my future (that’s probably a different blog post) but I am thinking I found a good way to thank her. I think the best gift would be less brushes with death and probably a trip outside of the country for a Broncos game. If ya know, ya know. 

MJ