The past three seasons, Megan Kelly has made sure she could join Tinley Park on its annual spring baseball trips to Kentucky, South Carolina and Alabama.
But she does more than just sit in the bleachers and support her youngest son Colin, a left-handed senior pitcher and outfielder.
It’s the Megan Kelly way.
“She helps with the shopping and does the players’ laundry,” Tinley Park coach Josh O’Shea said. “She’s a great team mom, and a remarkable person. She’s raised three respectful, tough boys.”
Tough and appreciative as Colin doesn’t allow a day to go by without giving his mother a hug and kiss and telling her he loves her. He believes it’s the least he can do.
“My mother is the greatest person I know,” Kelly said. “She has sacrificed all of her free time through the years to be at our football and baseball games. She doesn’t go on her own vacations or go out with her friends to have some fun.
“I don’t take her love for granted. I try to show her the respect and love she deserves.”
A mother of children who compete in sports wears many hats. To name a few — housekeeper, taxi driver, personal chef, finance manager, teacher and laundry machine operator.
It’s the toughest job in the world.
A divorced mother of three sons, Megan Kelly has been the loving, supportive CEO of the household to sons Colin, Quinn and Patrick.
Raising three boys isn’t always easy. For Kelly, it has meant working 65-hour weeks as an employee at Cook County Jail or consecutive 16-hour shifts.
She has had to juggle her schedule to meet the demands of school, social and sports schedules. Patrick and Quinn played football and baseball at Tinley Park. Colin has concentrated on baseball.
I bet there have been moments when she was ready to pull her hair out. Her devotion, however, hasn’t gone unnoticed by her children.
“She works all those hours to keep a roof over our heads,” Colin said. “She’ll work three 16-hour shifts in a row and come home with a smile on her face and never complains.”
Mom has been an inspiration to the Kelly boys, who marvel at how she has provided them with memories for a lifetime.
“There’s really no explaining the things she has done,” Patrick said. “The sacrifices and support she has given us. Not many men can say this, but my mother has made me a better man.
“She forced me to take responsibility, to work hard for what you want, to never take the easy way out.”
As children, the boys would have practices and games scattered throughout a Saturday.
Megan did her best to attend them all.
Sometimes, her obligations as a single mother didn’t allow for it, but she made sure to celebrate their successes and discuss their failures.
“Just about every Saturday for five years the three of us were at the baseball fields from 8 in the morning until 10 at night playing games,” Quinn said. “The few times she didn’t, she’d be getting updates from someone to see how we were doing. She cares so much.”
It has truly paid off.
Colin is a straight-A student who will continue his baseball career next year at South Suburban College. Quinn, 20, is a sophomore quarterback at Robert Morris. Patrick, 25, is an apprentice electrician.
Colin confirmed it would have been easy to veer off the tracks and start hanging around with the wrong crowd. But that would have meant letting down his mother.
“She’s a mother who has also had to fill the role of a father,” Colin Kelly said. “We all try to make her proud for everything she has done for us. I’m proud of her. She’s an amazing mother.”
One of the many amazing mothers I know.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful moms.
Twitter @disabato
