As we countdown to Mother's Day we're paying tribute to a special group of moms. Many of you watching TISL are mothers, and let's face it, all moms these days are busy. They’re balancing kids, life and more. No one understands that feeling more than a mom on the front lines who’s serving not only her family, but also our country.
Inside the Montessori Lab School in Midtown, students sing to their moms for a Mother’s Day tea party. All the moms are beaming with pride, but one mom in uniform is especially immersed in the moment.
"I travel a lot for work so I’ve missed a few of these things. So when I’m actually there watching it I try to just really enjoy it I know they'll grow fast,” said Viveca Lane.
V, as she prefers, flew for the first time 20 years ago and fell in love. Ultimately landing with the Air National Guard for the last 18 years.
Lane said, "Off the top of my head I’ve been to Turkey, Japan, Hawaii. Obviously I’ve been to Afghanistan and Iraq."
For the last decade she's been flying the KC-135 for the 126th Air Re-fueling Wing at Scott Air Force Base.
"In 2018 I’ll be away from home about 140 plus days. I will miss Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and Mother’s Day," she said.
Sometimes she's away from her boys for weeks at a time. When they are together, she only speaks to them in Danish to honor her mother.
Lane said, "Mother’s Day is kind of a bittersweet holiday for me because I lost my own mother in 2015 and it was very important to me that my children stay connected to my mother’s culture and her heritage."
Lane makes motherhood while serving our country look easy. But she'll be the first to tell you, it’s not.
"Most moms that work outside of the home have some kind of like working mothers guilt where they feel bad about not being there for their children. But most of those moms probably come home for dinner every night. For me, sometimes I'm done for weeks on end. Its challenging, pretty challenging,” she explained.
She couldn't do it without her husband, Graham, who takes over when she's gone.
He said, "We’re just really both supportive of each other it’s not that hard."
For this Mother’s Day, and each year after, V has the same wish.
"I hope that when my children are grown they will see that time that I missed with them as something really valuable that I was doing for our country. Instead of being maybe resentful of it or maybe regret that we lost that time together I hope they will be proud," She smiled.
When Today In St. Louis’ Allie Corey asked V which job is more stressful: being a mom at home or piloting a refueling tanker?
"I think being a mom can be more stressful because there are very few things that happen on an airplane that have to be dealt with right away. I mean even a fire I’m going to take just a couple seconds to assess what’s happening right now. How bad is the situation? What have I lost? What type of fire is it? Whereas when you've got two children yelling at you, you have no time or ability to process anything," she laughed.
