Sunday, May 9, 2010

Happy Mother's Day



Women are stronger than men. Don’t argue this with me.
My mom...LFG's namesake...a teenager...a stellar mom to be.

I think this little ditty by the Intruders is appropriate for today...


My mom the Salutatorian, penned this speech...
I used to read it when I was a kid and would just say "nahh...mom didn't write this". The first few years of school saw my mother learning the proverbial Three-R's under the glow of an oil lamp. 


Mom… thanks for:
1. Making me feel unequivocally safe as a little kid. The three of us are forever girded with the incredible gift of having been raised by one of those quintessential “super-moms”.
2. Reading
Prince Bertram the Bad and Cat in the Hat to me a thousand times.
3. Believing that it was child abuse to send a kid to school without a hot breakfast every morning.Thanks for consistently providing us one for 18 years.
4. Telling me swiftly and without equivocation when I was 14 that if I pierced one of my ears, I would be sleeping in the back yard for the rest of my life. This is why you remain unaware of the tiny tattoo on the top of my right foot.
5. Always being at Cub Scouts-Boy Scouts-Girl Scouts and everything else while Dad was playing poker.
6. Letting us stay in the pool till our fingers were “pruny”.
7. Making me feel loved even though I was pissed about no longer being the baby of the family after 10 years. What were you thinking…having another one? I’m glad you did though.
8. Talking with me about how a parent could have God first in their lives and still love their children unconditionally. I’m beginning to have these discussions with LFG and the lessons I learned from you remain valuable.
9. Showing the world how a stay at home mom could, with dignity and strength, join the workforce after becoming a widow with a first grader, high school sophomore and a college freshman. I still don’t know how you did it. On second thought, yes I do.
10. Letting me come home on Sundays when in college, hung-over, hungry, broke and laden with dirty laundry.
11. Sending me back to the fratty house less hung-over, well fed, less broke with clean laundry.
12. Apologizing after your perimenopausal rage manifested in a Topsider upside my college boy face when all I did is ask about Christmas logistics.
13. Teaching me how to pickle okra.
14. Being such a loving grandmother to LFG and all your other grands.

I love you.

12 comments:

LPC said...

Happy Mother's Day to your mom, ADG.

ADG said...

LPC...and to you. I hope that your family is honoring you today in ways that make you happy.

Anonymous said...

Always makes me happy to see people appreciate their parents while they are still alive. You are both fortunate people.

James said...

Well said and it's wonderful that you are passing so much from your Mother to LFG. You're a good man.

Toad said...

Many thanks to your sainted mother for what she has to endure with you. Mercifully, the little one lightens her load.

I've had 3 Saabs and loved them all.

ADG said...

James...thanks.

Toad...you are 100% accurate in your assertion. Saabs...this one has 128k on it and I usually drive my cars till they die. This one is close. Interestingly, I've never met anyone who is "neutral" on Saabs. It's usually a love 'em or hate 'em kind of a thing. I love mine.

M.Lane said...

A very fine sentiment. Great post.

ML
mlanesepic.blogspot.com

heavy tweed jacket said...

A wonderful tribute! Can't get enough pickled okra. My Mother made lots of her own pickles and jams. Apple Butter is the one that I've taken as my own and been making every fall for years.

Anonymous said...

What a lovely tribute.

When do we get to see a photo of that tiny tattoo on the top of your right foot?

Sounds like a painful placement. Knowing you, it is surely meaningful, artistic, and sophisticated.

Please don't keep up waiting too long!

ADG said...

Anonymous One and Two...thanks. And re the tattoo...very small kanji that says...LFG's first name. Surprise I know. And yes, foot tattoos hurt like a mo fo...no fat or muscle to take the needle...just skin-tendons-nerves.

M.Lane...thanks.

Heavy Tweed...LFG and I are headed back to my mom's next month and I've already requested another pickling tutorial. Apple Butter sounds good.

~Tessa~Scoffs said...

ADG - I remember a similar post last year. Lovely, lovely, lovely to read a grown man's tribute to his mother.

CeceliaMc said...

Beautiful! I have a new inspiration to accompany Susan Sarandon!

(I once bounced a hot roller off my daughter's head. It was very therapeutic.)