MOM. This is a word that makes me warm and fuzzy when I hear it and I feel forever grateful when I say it. I have a lot of childhood memories of feeling deep appreciation for the woman I get to call Mom. Not only did she try to heal my skinned knees, but she would mend broken hearts, soothe bruised egos, and she always lifted me up when I was down. She never stopped trying to do the best she knew how and she never gave up when I turned into a black sheep rebel from age 14 to 17. For those 4 years alone she deserves a gold medal trimmed with diamonds.
If anyone knows how to show unconditional love, it is her.
I remember back in 2nd grade when we were constructing mother’s day cards with colored paper, glitter, and a really dull pair of scissors. I peered over my shoulder at this kid Mikey’s card and he was writing something like “To the greatest mom ever”, and all I could think was “how could this kid have the greatest mom ever when MY mom is the greatest mom ever? I have the best mom, not this kid” I sort of sneered inside thinking, if he ever meets my mom than he’ll know that she wins the best mom contest. It made me mad though and I still remember it because I got this little defensive feeling like I needed to somehow let the world know that SHE was indeed the best mom ever. After peeking at a few more cards that looked a little shabby and only said “I LOve you MOM” or “Have a nice Muther’s day”, I felt better. As long as they weren’t stating anything about the BEST mom ever, I was alright, because nobody was going to steal that title which was reserved for MY MOM ONLY.
It didn’t take long to realize I had the best mom ever because there were just so many things she did for me as a kid, it would have been impossible to think otherwise. I remember my first day of kindergarten and bawling my eyes out because she was leaving me and I didn’t think I could survive the day without her. She was always there to comfort me and convince me she’d be back. In the first grade when I was given assigned seating in between two boys and came home crying because I couldn’t possibly sit in between two STINKY BOYS (this is pre-puberty of course), she called the teacher and laughingly asked if I could please sit by a girl instead as I was simply distressed over this. The next day my desk was at the end, with one girl next to me. My mom was my savior!
My Mom was the kind that always tried to make sure your heart was content and your eyes were dry. She would cook me anything I wanted whenever I wanted it. Damn I miss that. She would stir a bowl of hard ice cream into a soft serve chocolate shake if I wanted it at that consistency and she would blow on my soup for me even though I was totally capable. It was these little things that I remember. I was spoiled with gestures, not material items. She was good at being a MOM.
The house was always clean, the dishes were washed, the beds were made, and the wash machine was rumbling. My mom created all of our birthday cakes herself and sewed our Christmas pageant costumes by hand. The smell of chocolate chip cookies in the oven will always bring me back to my childhood. She made the best french toast, the best potato pancakes, and the best peanut butter bars.
My Mom still washes dishes in the sink, lifts the garage door with her hands, and probably has no idea what text messaging is. She has no email address and has never logged on to that “facebook thing” as she would say. She is a small town girl with the biggest heart ever and the simple life is simply wonderful to her. She will probably never read this, but I’m sure if she did she’d probably just smile softly, say “well that was really nice” and continue doing what she does best, and that is being a MOM :)
No comments:
Post a Comment