We're celebrating Moms this Sunday, so be sure to show your mom some love and appreciation.
It's so easy to overlook everything moms do and it certainly is something you realize more with age. I just wanted to take a moment to appreciate my mom Joan, who is the owner of Razors Edge.
Joan was a teen mom and had to drop out of high school. When she left school, she was on the volleyball, basketball and debate team. She married very young and had four wild kids to raise by the age of 22 years old. Her parents were both alcoholics and she married a man who also struggled with alcoholism. Anyone that has a family member with alcoholism knows the hardships imposed upon their family.
When her kids were very young, Joan packed them up and moved to Prince George and enrolled in hairdressing school. To be a hairstylist was her dream. Or a cop. But hairdressing school was quicker and she needed to support her four kids now.
I remember living in a tiny apartment with all my siblings. My mom was hardly ever there because she worked three different jobs while attending hair school. It was a monthly occurrence to have either the heat and hot water shut off or the phone. She sewed most of our clothes herself.
Mom always had some beater of a car to take us camping at the lake once a year. Looking back now, I honestly don't know how she did it on her own. At this point she had lost her own mother. No child support. No family to help her. But she did it. I remember lots of laughter and lots of Kraft dinner!
My mom worked at a few salons in Prince George, always a very requested hairdresser. She worked six days a week, 9-10 hour days, and never complained. She didn't even complain when us kids would stop by her work to "borrow" her tips. But when she had to miss graduations for her own kids, miss soccer games every single weekend and started getting a few police visits due to the troubles her kids were getting in, she decided to pursue opening her own salon where she could have and give working mothers more choices.
I can only say it was pure determination that Joan was able to open The Razors Edge. She had a Grade 11 education, no money and was turned down for a business loan by every single bank in Prince George. But sometimes the lessons learned at the School of Hard Knocks is enough. And the short of the story was she managed to open Razors Edge and now got to work seven days a week.
The Razors Edge was the name of a ski run in Quesnel. Joan took up skiing in her later years, and this particular ski run was one that was too "intermediate" for her. But of course she kept trying and crashing and getting back up and crashing, until she could ski it. Never a believer in "too hard,” she believed in "try harder."
My mom worked behind the chair for 40 years as one of those arrive early and leave late workers. I think she only called in sick twice. She even insisted on working half a day when she remarried (and divorced another alcoholic, that terrible vicious cycle). She loved hairdressing, loved her clients and loved the employees. She loved to teach and would often put down her scissors to go help a new stylist. Even today when we are out, former clients greet her and she fondly remembers their whole life story!
My mom faced a lot of adversity, poverty, abuse and obstacles. She couldn't afford much for her kids (but she will proudly tell the story of that ONE time she took us all to the dentist). But she taught life lessons. Positive attitude. Hard work. Honesty. Kindness. Forgive and forget. Only depend on yourself. Focus on just one problem a day. Oh and she doesn’t believe in retaliation! Two wrongs don't make a right (I never understood that one).
My mom likes everyone, sees the good in everyone. She doesn't argue. None of us kids are as good at any of these things as her, but we try. Of course, we are no longer kids, and she buried her oldest son a few years ago, but isn't it funny how you always feel like "kids" to your Mom?
Joan turns 75 this month. She keeps telling me she can't believe she is this old! And she wrinkles her nose in disgust. Emergency heart surgery pulled her from behind the chair five years ago. But she still owns Razors Edge and to her, Razors Edge is like one of her kids. She created it, she raised it and she put everything she had into it.
She still cuts my husband’s and son's hair because there is no hairdresser like my mom. Now she is ironically the plumber and maintenance supervisor for Razors Edge, something else she learned at the School of Hard Knocks. And many Sundays you will see her truck at Razors Edge and she is alone inside, fixing the ice machine, doing the laundry, unplugging the pedicure chairs or changing the filters.
She works long hours on her Koi pond that she heats even through the Prince George winters and happily spends all her retirement money keeping the water warm for those damn fish. She mows her own lawn, shovels her own driveway and still works very hard, and always with a smile. And yes, you will still find her at Value Village finding great things and great deals for everyone she knows.
We didn't grow up with affection from my mom, and I suppose that's because that's how she grew up. We don't hug, we don't throw "I love you" or compliments around a lot. But we all love her, admire her and owe everything to her. And we all know how much she loves her kids and grandkids.
So that's my mom. I will be sure to share a tea and a few laughs with her this weekend. And I send virtual hugs to those who have lost their mom because I can't even imagine. For those that have their moms in their lives, I hope you get to spend some quality time with your mom this weekend. And give her a hug.
Cheers to mothers and grandmothers and all you do for your kids and families, remember to do a little for you too!
Tammy Ferreira is the manager of The Razors Edge in Prince George.
