Mother's Day

Just got back from our family's Mother's Day grill out. Or, "Grill In," since the weather wasn't very cooperative. Always a good time getting together with the cousins... it's just a bunch of thirty+year olds acting five again. Heheheh... we still drive the parents crazy, though, now we can get them to laugh with us. Sometimes.

You may have noticed that I don't usually reminisce much about times with my mother, writing mostly about what I can remember of my father. There's a good reason for that... she's still alive, he's not. Not a very fair reason, but it works. But as the saying goes, you don't know what you've got, until it's gone. That is, unless you take some time to reflect, and look back on things. I've got a hell of a mother...

As some of you probably already know, Pa was killed in a farm accident in '76. I was nine at the time, and the oldest of four, with the youngest, R, being four. Ma was left with the task of raising us, and trying to maintain the farm. She held out for nearly four years, selling animals off, renting out the acreage, and finally selling the farm in '80. We moved to a small farmette, and stayed there until she needed to move closer to work...

She may have given up the farming, but she never gave up on us. We weren't bad kids, but we definitely gave her reason enough to rip out hair... both hers and ours. But she kept on. I'm a little biased, but I think she did a damn good job. Hell, you would not believe how many of my friends' parents, especially mothers, wanted to meet her. Most just wanted to tell her that they admired the way she raised us. Most said that they KNEW they would have problems raising just their one or two kids, and here she raised four fine kids.

A couple of years ago, my mother sat us all down, and she apologized for the spankings that we got. She seemed to think that some were a bit harsh, and that she had overdone it. We looked at each other, grinned, then told her that, if anything, we had never gotten near enough... not that we got away with much, but we did manage a few times! As for being too harsh, we told her there was no way. We never had bruises. Never were beaten. Yeah, we like to joke about how we were beat to death, but that's usually when she can hear us. You know... just to goad her a bit. But we goad because we love.

I love my ma to death, even if I don't show it nearly as much as I should. I'm pretty damn sure she knows it, and not just because of the flowers I brought for her. I look at my siblings, and look at how we've all turned out, and I can't help but feel pride in my mother. Pride and love...

She's one hell of a woman.

I know it's late, but I just want to wish all of you mother's out there a very Happy Mother's Day. I hope that all of you will have your kids look at you with the same pride and love that my siblings and I feel for our mother.

Posted by That 1 Guy at May 14, 2006 07:05 PM