Stories to Honor a Mother

[JustSkipIt]

Mother’s day is tomorrow (Sunday May 13). And I’ve been thinking about my mom a lot (really, a lot) lately. I’d love to hear people share stories about your mom, your grandmom, or even a mom you know. Just something to honor a mom (or more than one).

My mother died September 12, 2003. I was with her and it was one of the most horrific but also most peaceful things I’ve ever experienced. I miss her every day.

* When I was a child, I was a very precocious one. I was well ahead of my classes but had a bad speech impediment so the administrators and my parents didn’t want to skip me to another grade. When I was in second grade, I stopped speaking. I would only speak if asked a direct question and then only yes or no. After a while they figured out what had happened. I was in class one day and asked a question that was way past what the teacher was trying to teach. She had told me that we weren’t talking about that now and went on. I got mad and in little kid logic decided that if she wouldn’t answer my question, I wouldn’t talk to her or anyone else any more (I also stopped doing all schoolwork). My mother sat me down and she said that school is hard because everyone else may not have time for me but she promised to always tell me the truth about anything I asked and if she didn’t know, she would help me find out. For years, I tested her by asking her anything I could think of. We had to go to the Rabbi because I wanted to know if Cain and Able were brothers, where did the rest of society come from. He said they had twin sisters. I said twins of each other or twins or Cain and Able and if twins or Cain and Able did they marry their own twin or the other? The important thing is that I can never in my entire life remember her not keeping that promise to me. Ever.

• One very unique aspect to my mother was that she did not give unsolicited advice. But when I asked, she had the most amazing advice. She would think about my question and then ask me a series of questions to let me figure it out myself and her questions made the solution so simple that I never understood why I didn’t know the answer without asking.

Ok, that’s two stories. I could write more and I could certainly write about my wife (who is an incredible mother) but that’s all for now. I look forward to reading some of your thoughts.

[dlline]

Happy Mother’s Day to all and thanks to Deb for starting this thread. Great Idea!

I’d like to take a few moments and tell everyone about my mom, Rita. She’s been many things to me for my 46 years on this planet, and I’m grateful for everyday that I have with her. Although, we are separated by geography (600 miles), I talk to her a lot. Thank whomever for cell phones and family plans, because we used to spend a fortune on long distance.

First off, my mom is a musician. She used to teach the flute and play in a band. I used to think I was the luckiest kid anywhere because, when it came time for the piccolo solo in The Stars and Strips Forever, that was my mom and she was the niftiest thing around. Hey, who else’s mom was standing up in front of the whole band? No one else… just me, and how cool was that? On a hot 4th of July, 1965, in southwestern Ohio, I came to the full realization that I was the coolest kid on the planet, ‘cause I had the coolest mom in the universe.

My mom also has a nickname. People who came to know her as my mom called her “Mama Tiger.” I think this came from one time when a school nurse told her I was making a big deal out of my first bout of cramps at age 14. I heard my mom (she doesn’t know that I heard, but I did) tell this nurse, “If you ever tell my kid that she’s making too much out of these cramps, I’ll have your job!” I knew right then and there, regardless of how much shit she gave me for being a smart ass, that she would fight and die to protect me. Again, I ask, how cool is that?

I came out to her when I was 23 years old. It was a hard time for me, and as uncomfortable as I was at the prospect of a big coming out speech, I was having a crisis and just needed my mom to tell me it would be okay. Turns out, she was way ahead of me (as usual), told me that she already knew ‘cause she’d watched me grow up. She expressed her gratitude for the fact that I trusted her enough to tell her, and in a lot of ways, that’s the last time we talked about it. I once asked her why she didn’t ask more questions, and she told me, in no uncertain terms, that it was my business and she only wanted me to be happy.

And that brings us to now. Mom is 75 years old; a fact that lives in my head every day knowing that our days together are much more limited than ever. She still drives an hour to work every day. So, when she asked if I would fly Las Vegas to help her attend a convention, I didn’t hesitate. She needs my help with transportation and the occasional long flight of stairs. How could I say no? I’d fly to the jungles of Borneo to help her pick bananas, if she needed me to.

So, Happy Mother’s Day to you, Rita. You’ve been wonderful and difficult. Accepting and judgmental. Tough and loving. You’ve made me who I am and I can never say thank you enough. I’m the luckiest 46-year-old kid anywhere.


Diane