Susie Jones - My Mother

Susie Jones is known around the world for her outstanding work with the Mt Hood Community College (MHCC) jazz band, her extraordinary skills with music, and her fun and profound teaching methods. And for those of us who know her personally, she is known for the ease of her laugh, her compassionate heart, and her amiable personality. Lucky for me I was raised by her and I can tell you firsthand what a powerful and captivating woman she is.

Let me start off by telling you her schedule. (If this doesnt humble you I dont know what will.) She wakes up extremely early to get to work an hour before any classes start - just in case any student may need her. Throughout the work day she coordinates trips for her band to Taiwan or New York City, teaches difficult classes, signs up to play gigs with the many local bands she finds herself in, and runs errands for anyone who needs her to. After an exaughsting day at work, she will come home and cook food, grade papers, shop for groceries, clean the house, work at our rental houses, help me with whatever I ask, prepare for classes the next day, play concerts/gigs, compose music, direct the pit for musicals, and do whatever else she has on her plate. On the weekends she wakes up to drive to Corvallis to visit her hospitalized mother, then comes home to me and my father with nothing but a smile on her face. She never complains. All the stress, all the anxiety, and not a single word.  I am simply infatuated with her ability to undergo all that she does without one utterance. I am awe-struck every day.

Yet the most important aspect about her isn’t the back-breaking work she goes through every day - it’s the things she does without even trying. She knows each and every one of her students because she simply likes people. She knows me and my father because she simply cares . And everyone knows her, because she is simply contagious. And if you do know her, here are some things you may identify with, things she does that make Susie Jones who she is. 1) Sometimes when she laughs really hard her nose runs and her eyes fill up with water. 2) When she hugs you, it feels like she never wants to let go. 3) You can tell when she disagrees with what you’re saying because her eyes widen slightly and you just KNOW she is trying to think of questions she can ask to expose the faults in your argument. 4) When she is in a jovial mood she will let her tongue hang loose like a dog and run around with a wild look in her eye. 5) Every time anyone calls her she has the same greeting: “HE-EY!!! ____” 6) She twirls her hair when she is thinking real hard. 7) Even when there is a movie playing, or she is very busy, she is always mouthing some kind of song. 8) She loves to talk politics, and even though she would never admit it, she falls for and would love to own all liberal propaganda. 8) She has never met someone she truly doesnt like. 9) She tilts her head to the right when she is considering what you have to say. 10) When she is excited she always exclaims “ARE YOU SERIOUS!?” 11.) You can tell in her eyes that she cares about everyone she meets because her eyes smile right along with her lips.

Yeah, thats her. Lovely, beautiful, smart, compassionate. She cares about everything and everyone around her, and she makes a difference in the lives of all the people she comes into contact with. I hope I become half the woman she is.