Big Shoes to Fill

me, mom, mama and mamoo- 4 generations!

I come from a long line of feisty spirited women. Bucking the norm has been handed down from one generation to the next. (Would you expect anything less from the descendants of a woman named Henri?) 

MaMa, mom, Caroline and me- 4 generations again!

The typical womanly characteristics you would expect from the matriarch of the family-cleaning, cooking, alphabetized chronologically-ordered photo albums of each family member- somehow have eluded the Gladden/Herrod genes that were handed down to me. But in their place I inherited a repertoire of skills and traits that I find far more endearing. Creativity, from my paternal grandmother Nell Douglas who unfortunately I never had the chance to know.  I've heard stories about her handy ways around a workshop, how she could fix/fabricate/create anything she dreamed up. My dad always claimed she was the original inventor of the skateboard....she built one for him when he was a kid long before they were mainstream. 


From my maternal grandmother, MaMa (that's may-may in case you were wondering) I inherited a definite disgust of all things kitchen-related and and an insatiable appetite for the great outdoors! Who has time to waste on pots and pans when there's a great big beautiful world out there?? Mama was never one to win anyone over with her cooking (just ask about the fabled 'goo dish' my grandfather complained of, or the ketchup growing fur in her fridge, or the quail from 1985 still frozen in her freezer threatening to make an appearance on the dinner table...) but her zest for travel and experiencing all the world has to offer makes her one of the most fun people I know. How many 80-something-year-old grandmothers do you know who would climb 300+ steps just for the pleasure of viewing a spectacular waterfall, or strap on a harness and helmet and go flying on a zipline? Only my MaMa! Just two weeks ago she returned from an expedition across the Atlantic to view the world-famous tulip gardens in Amsterdam. I owe my wanderlust and love of the natural world to MaMa.

Emily, me and MaMa in Costa Rica

MaMa looooves her great-grandaughter!

From my mom, I inherited ALL of my physical characteristics (from brown hair to tans-easily  to petite stature) and a can-do, why-not,  aptitude. She has never followed closely to what was 'typical' or 'expected'. She was famous for breaking the rules and challenging the norms.  (To this day, her favorite Christmas tradition is running all the red lights on the early Christmas morning drive to MaMa's house. Dangerous? Perhaps. Super fun? Definitely!!) At several points during my life I felt out of kilter, off the beaten path, not sure where I was headed. But my Mom always encouraged me in whatever direction I was headed, whether that was frolicking in Hawaii for the summer or changing my major in college or eloping with my husband on a private ceremony on the beach. Her attitude always was, and always will be, follow your heart. Don't worry about others' expectations. Without those words to live by my life would not be the same.

Mom and me circa 1979

Who goes hunting in every garden store in town to find
the perfect big metal chicken? My mom!

So I've got a lot to live up to in choosing what to pass down to my girl. Will she get my and MaMa's apalling lack of sense of direction? Will she get my and my mom's love for trashy made-for-tv movies and all things crafty? I only hope that when she's 30-something she'll be laughing and telling stories about all the crazy anti-mom things I did when she was growing up. And if she's burning the mystery meatloaf because she's too busy gabbing on the phone, telling me all about her latest hairbrained adventure, then I know I'll have been successful as a mother.