Our Super Mero feature today is a dear friend of mine Tamara (Tam), Redden. Tam is an amazing single mother of two sons. Her oldest is 23 and lives in Florida and her youngest is 1 1/2. Needless to say, with a toddler, you know she has her hands full. She works 60 hours a week to keep food on the table and a roof over their head. What makes her a Super Mero, besides just keeping her head above water as a single mother, with no child support, I might add, is she travels once a month to Florida to care for her ill father.
She purchases her plane ticket, covers her shifts at work, and off she and her son go for 7 to 10 days to take care of her father. While she is there, she cooks and prepares plan ahead meals for him, takes him to doctor appointments, cleans, and does anything else he needs. There is family close to him, but it seems as though the family has left his care up to Tam to fly from Phoenix, Arizona once a month to Orlando, Florida to care for him.
She has been keeping up this pace for almost a year now and just jumps in to help her father, no questions asked. Tam as long as I have known her, is always there for her friends and family without question. If you need something, you can always depend on her kindness and ability to always give.
I think we can agree, It is hard enough to care for a ill family member in the same city, Tam has risen to a whole new level with her father in Orlando! She books his medical appointments and is listed as his care giver hundred miles away. Her parents are still married, but Tam has assumed all levels of care for her father, even across the country. She receives calls from social workers, and doctors when her fathers health declines and works to keep a wellness plan in place.
Just the fact Tam is there for her father, in our book makes her a true Super Mero. But the fact she is also a single mother to a wonderful sweet adorable toddler, flies across country once a month, and works 60+ hours a week to make ends meat, she is a 100% Super Mero! Tamra Redden, you are absolutely amazing and are really a fine example to your child and to the world of what it is to be kind, giving, inspirational and a true believer in the power of one! You are making a difference in the world and thank you for all you do to enrich your fathers life and those around you!~Shirene Hayes