My greatest accomplishment, being a Mother

by Jen Lyons

I’m a mother of four boys ages 12, 10, 7, and 7 months old. I never thought I’d ever be a mother to four children let alone four boys, but life has a way of surprising us. My heart is full and most definitely my schedule is too, but I wouldn’t want to trade it for anything in the world. Being a mother is by far my biggest life accomplishment ahead of finishing my master’s degree and running a marathon. It has taught me and shaped me into who I am today, and I am forever grateful for my handsome, loving boys.

I came into running by accident. I was a soccer player since age five. My older sister came home from college the summer before 7th grade and wanted to spend time with me so we would go running at night to beat the summer heat. I learned rather quickly that I was quite good at running and really enjoyed it. My sister and I would talk about “life, love, and graphic design” together, running gave me time to bond with her as I missed her dearly while she was away at college. When I mentioned going out for the track team, she encouraged me to stop thinking about it and just do it. I ran track that coming year and cross country in 8th grade while still playing soccer. It was only a matter time that I realized my love for running was much greater than my love for soccer. Halfway through high school soccer, I quit the team and went out for cross country later on running for my university.

There are so many things I love about being a mother.

I love all the snuggles and unconditional love my boys give to me.
I make mistakes as I’m only human and no matter what, they still love me and give the best hugs and snuggles.
I love watching them do all the things that make each of them their own unique little person. We are “in the trenches” stage of life with our kids as they say. The boys have us running from cross country meets to soccer games to wrestling matches to orchestra/band concerts and everything in between and I wouldn’t trade anything in the world than to watch them do all the things they love.

I also love to see how my influence of being an active mother has on them.

For example, my 7 year old lately has been coming home “to do his workout.” He does burpees, push ups, sit ups, and jumping jacks. He also loves to see how many miles he can do in one hike. His record is 10.5 which he did at age 5. I love the many adventures that motherhood brings to my life. In a way, I get to be a kid again through the eyes of my children and it is so much fun. I love to watch them as they discover and learn from these adventures. During the pandemic we fled to Montana to be with my sister and her family and our kids got to experience so many cool things while there.

Being a mother, it is important to take the bad and make it good so that your kids can experience life in a positive way. Every moment can really be a teaching moment with kids and the time that you spend with your children is immeasurable. I’ve been very fortunate in that my husband and I had the same vision for our life together when we met at age 20. We imagined having kids together some day and immersing our lives around them enabling me to stay home with them. I had a career before children, but now to say that my “career” is my children is an understatement. They are my life, they are my love, and I wouldn’t ever give any of it up.