By Terra Avilla
No matter where you go in life, or how old you get, I believe it’s in our nature as females to seek out other women who are older than we are to use as a makeshift portable “mama” wherever we go.
I have been very lucky in my life to have acquired a slew of women that I think of as a “bonus mom” to me over the years and I thought it only fitting to write about one of them this week, as we just celebrated Mother’s Day.
This week I would like to pay homage to Brenda Hoffman. Now to be fair, Brenda is a “mother” like figure to all of the students at Lassen College, and to be honest I’m not exactly certain what her exact position is, because if you ask my wonderful husband, she does everything for him.
Frankie will nonchalantly be discussing something he needs help with at the school or with his players, or the dorms, or reimbursements or his trips, and his go-to person is Ms. Brenda. She definitely takes care of him, the other coaches, and all the players.
You might recognize her from being at all the games. Of all the sports. She is literally a stand-in team mom. I don’t know if she even knows how much everyone loves her being there.
She is just a kind person and has become a staple in my Susanville life. She is also a huge Terra fan. In fact, she pretty much shares anything I do, so I cannot wait to share this article tomorrow on my page. She has been one of my biggest supporters of my weekly articles since I started, and I am so happy to finally have her as the feature.
When Brenda isn’t running around doing a million things at Lassen College, she is pretty much consumed being a mother and also a grandmother. Watching her talk about her grandbabies warms my heart. That woman most certainly deserves all the grandkid cuddles she can get.
She manages to work full time, but still makes it to baseball games, spring recitals, dances, and plays. I have no doubt her grandbabies just love her.
Brenda’s heart is most definitely huge and is always “in the right place.” She quietly donates her time to whomever ever asks for whatever cause is currently happening, and that woman donates. Boy does she. She just never asks for any sort of kudos or recognition.
She is a silent, but sweet hero to my family, but also the community. It is people like her, that just have love to give and take an interest in other people, that are what makes our community so strong. Brenda, I love you and I see you for all that you do for the college, the students, that pesky baseball coach and our town. You are most certainly one of the reasons I love the place where we live.
