MOTHER: teresa “terri” (60)

SON: Ernest “ace” (33)

Home Location: concrete, WA

Terri is a super tiny, 5’ tall, Caucasian, fiery and eccentric grandma, whereas her son, Ernest, is 5’11”, 215lbs and is half black. Strangers mistake Ernest as adopted, or even worse, they think that she’s his sugar mama or girlfriend! Teresa is loud, eccentric, outspoken and does NOT have a filter. Ernest on the other-hand, is calculated, composed and rational. He’s a former Marine who believes in the 2nd amendment; she’s a peace-and-love Christian who detests guns and believes that everyone should get along. He believes in hard facts. She believes in aliens. You get the idea.

Ernest enlisted in the Marines at only seventeen years old as a way to give structure and meaning to his life. He served in the military for several years and was also deployed to Iraq. The Marines instilled a sense of extreme discipline, calculated risk-taking and a sense of honor and character. Teresa is silly, goofy and eccentric. The two together clash on many topics, but especially when it comes to religion… Terri takes pride in her faith and enjoys sharing her passion for her spirituality with everyone she talks to. She will constantly say that God is speaking to her or giving her signs throughout her day, while Ernest rolls his eyes in disbelief and embarrassment. She feels that every decision is planned out by God and believes in Angels. She is also a huge conspiracy theorist and is quick to try and get to the root of a mystery to find the ‘truth.’ She also believes in Aliens, whereas Ernest is definitely not a believer.

Ernest struggles to bring his mother back to planet Earth. On the other hand, Terri is able to share comfort and hope to situations because of her beliefs that in turn helps Ernest and his kids (Ernest Jr., age 6 and Aurora, age 4) through difficult times.

In a sad and tragic turn of events, Ernest suddenly and unexpectedly lost the love of his life. His life-partner, Rene, and the mother of his two children unexpectedly fell ill in December of 2022. Within several days of becoming sick, she was shockingly diagnosed with advanced Leukemia. She passed away in the same month leaving Ernest a newly single-father to two children under ten years old. With the grief and loss still fresh, Terri is taking it upon herself to be there for her son in his darkest hour. While Ernest and Terri face the unimaginable they are also realizing there is a silver lining. They are learning to transcend any divides in their relationship and come together for themselves and for Ernest’s children. This tragedy has forced them to connect and come together, both physically, mentality, emotionally and spirituality. Unfortunately, Rene’s family are not involved in their grandchildren’s lives. Ernest has a very strained relationship with them, making his relationship with his own mother even more important.

Life is about to get very real for both Ernest and Teresa as they have plans to purchase a home and move in together. Additionally, Terri is stepping in to co-parent the children and help Ernest navigate what it means to be a single dad. Coming together, however, is easier said than done. These two VERY different and very big personalities have opposite parenting styles. Ernest happens to be lenient and unstructured, whereas Terri is the rule follower and disciplinarian.

To make it even more of a struggle for Ernest, now that Mom is around, she’s parenting him! He can’t stand when Mom nags him, as he’s a grown man, but she’s helping take care of the kids, so what can he really say? He’s damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. Terri considers herself the matriarch of their family unit, but now that Ernest is older he stands up for himself in a way that he didn’t use to. Living and co-parenting together will surely be a power struggle!

Beyond co-parenting and the big move, the two want to make memories for the children. Ernest sells RV’s for a living, so they’re planning to take a family RV trip from Washington to California so the kids can go to Disneyland. 17 hours in an RV together…What could go wrong?

Although this mother and son duo are complete opposites of the other, they have managed to stay extremely close and have an incredibly strong relationship. Moving in together and being together 24/7 while raising Ernest’s kids with opposite parenting styles and views will be a huge challenge for both of them. No matter the fights that will ensue or the amount of annoyance they cause each other, they will always have each other.