Best. Gift. EVER!
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Linda Rivera is a very loving and caring mother who would do anything for her family. When Nick and Lindsay were growing up, Linda ran a tight ship! She was also there every single day for her children since day one, a trait she learned from her father growing up. She never believed in taking a break from your kids.
“We’re best friends and we have been since I was little,” her daughter, Lindsay, said. “We’ve always been together. She’s not like my friends’ moms either. My mom’s tough. She grew up having to be tougher. She’s just a different mom, in a good way! She taught us to be tough as well.”
Linda did not have it easy growing up, as it was just her dad, her brother and her. She has always wanted to make sure that her kids did not deal with the absence of a mother like she did. This came with tough love and a lot of rules at times, but it also came with a lot of life lessons along the way.
She has taught her kids things like integrity and character, and to not tolerate bullies. She also taught them that right is right and wrong is wrong. But above all else, Linda taught her kids the importance of loyalty and family, and the importance of making everyone around her feel loved.
“She makes sure everybody’s birthday is a big deal,” her son, Nick, said. “She makes the grandkids feel special. She comes to all their games and school events. She’s also good at reading if one of her five grandkids feels left out. Mom makes everybody feel special and seen.”
No one should ever feel left out, and that is something that Linda taught her kids over the years, and it is something that she is instilling in her grandkids. While she may have always been a stickler about keeping the house clean and being late for curfew, she would do absolutely anything and everything for her family.
“To me, my mom means stability,” Nick said. “She never had any help when my dad was out working. Mom never took a day off. Kids will stress you out, but my mom never took a day off from us. She never went anywhere without us.”
Nick credited his mom’s blue collar background to why she never stopped being a mom, ever. Linda believes in the importance of routines, and always showing up and doing your job. At the same time, she believes that family is everything, and that you should not plan things without your family being part of those plans.
“Linda is humble, selfless and constantly working to help me, her children and grandchildren,” her husband, Rick, said. “She is perhaps the hardest working person I know. Her home is always meticulous, and she is always buttoned up, honest and reliable!”
The job of a wife, mom and Gigi is 24/7, 365 days a year! That is the way Linda likes it. She makes sure to spend every moment she can with her kids and grandkids, and she cherishes any time she gets to be with them.
Linda was 31 years old when Nick was born. While she was a natural from the start, there were a few growing pains, and she locked herself out of the house the first day she brought Nick home from the hospital… and he was inside! But as always, with the help of a police officer, she came to the rescue by crawling in the upstairs window.
“Once every month or two, she would come get me out of school for being ‘sick,’ and I would start laughing,” Lindsay said. “She would take me somewhere to spend time together. She believed it was important to spend time together. We would also always lay in bed together at night, where we would watch Golden Girls and drink iced tea.”
Those are memories that will last forever. Her children have learned so many valuable lessons from their mom, and they work to instill some of those lessons into their own children. She is always there for them, and she especially enjoys her family vacations and being “Gigi” to the grandkids.
Her love of playing golf and watching sports, especially baseball, football and softball, has stood the test of time. And while she might not be arm wrestling Nick and the boys around the block anymore, she is always there for the people that matter most to her. Any time Linda gets to spend with her family and friends is time well spent.
“Linda is very generous,” Rick said. “She’s always doing stuff for the kids and grandkids. The kids and grandkids are at the house every day during the summer.
While Linda is not afraid to tell it how it is, she is also not afraid to help someone in need. She has so many great qualities! She makes birthday parties the biggest events of the year, and her true genuineness toward her family sticks out above all else. Her Christmas, Halloween and Easter decorations are legendary!
“Meeting Linda and marrying her was probably the most important thing that ever happened to me, and it set the foundation for our wonderful life together,” Rick said. “We share an incredible love for our family that is really the compass for our lives. She is literally the wind beneath my wings. I sometimes take all of the things she does for granted, but make no mistake that she is the glue.”
Linda can be quiet and reserved, and she does not need to have the spotlight, but you can be sure she is not afraid to remind her husband who has three hole-in-ones to his two.
She loves golf and plays four times a week!
Linda is a great person, and an even better daughter, wife, mother and grandmother, and her family appreciates everything she does for them.
“Thank you for the imprint you made on my life.” – Nick
“I would not trade you for any other mom.” – Lindsay
“I just want you to know how much we love and appreciate you and everything you do to make our family and our lives great!” – Rick
