Justin Rich / Scrol ilistrationl Brett Richardson, a freshman from Houston Texas, won't be accompanied by his mother on Mothers' Weekend.

Some students left motherless this weekend

by Becky Boushley BOU02002@BYUI.EDU Scroll Staff

But what about those students who can be found sleeping on the couches in their apartments at night, attending Mothers’ Weekend events in an awkward three-some or just treating the days as another regular weekend?

“These are the times it is a draw back to not having a mom. Even though my roommate’s mom has offered to adopt me for the weekend, it just would seem awkward. It isn’t that I don’t love them, either; they’re great, but it wouldn’t be the same,” Brittany Fairbanks, a freshman from Orem, Utah, said.

Fairbanks is one of many students whose mother will not be here for Mothers’ Weekend. She is unique in the fact that her mother passed away when she was 5 years old, and she is still dealing with the event as many are.

“It’s not that I mind giving up my bed for my roommate’s mom to come and sleep; it’s just that I know that I will envy the fact that I am having to sacrifice for my roommates to enjoy their time with their mothers when I won’t have one there,” Fairbanks said.

ome students will not be seeing their mothers for other reasons.

“My mom isn’t coming because it’s expensive to fly and too far to drive. I’m sure it will be a little weird because everyone else’s mom is coming, but I think it will be more sad for my mom because I know she wants to be involved,” Adrienne Rodoni, a freshman from Plano, Texas, said.

On the other hand, some students really did not know and did not care that Mothers’ Weekend is coming. Some of these students say they are married and just do not feel the event is for them.

“When I was single, I thought it was fun, but now I work all the time, so even if my mom was coming, I don’t know if I would have any time to hang out with her,” Brittney Bennett, a sophomore from Bountiful, Utah, said.

“My parents and my wife’s parents are coming for graduation anyway. So it’s really not worth it for them to come down twice,” Brad Fillmore, a senior from Seattle, said.

“For me, it’s really not that big of a deal. If our parents wanted to come, we would have them, but all of my classes are really boring. My wife’s mother would probably have more things to relate to if she came,” Fillmore said.

Mothers’ Weekend sometimes seems specifically for female students, Fillmore said. But the whole point of the event is to give students, both male and female, a chance to grow closer to their mothers, Jared Carter, senior from Olympia, Wash., said.

“I really wish my mom was coming. I’d really like to spend the time with her, and it would be cool since there’s two of us, my little brother and I. She could come and go to our classes and meet our friends and our cool bishopric,” Carter said.

“I did invite my mom, but honestly she didn’t want to come. Well, she wants to, but she has a piano recital for her students that weekend, and she really can’t get away,” Carter said.

Overall, many of the students whose mothers are not coming are still going to attend some of the big events either with friends or with friends and their mothers.

“I will go to Extravadance, for sure, because my brother is a clogger, but probably just with friends,” Carter said.