"M is for the many things..."

My mom:

- Was ALWAYS there when I needed her, even at 2am – especially at 2am. Once, when a boy I loved broke my heart, I drove home from his house in Maryland in the middle of the night, and drove straight to the nursing home where my mom worked. She let me cry and cry and told me what a fool he was, and all her work friends petted me and made me feel better and brought me birthday cake from the nurses’ lounge.

- Thought I was beautiful. Even if she CONTINUALLY told me what I should do to be even more so – wear pastels, curl my hair, lose weight, gain weight, put on heels, shave my legs…if I had ever said to her, “Mom! I thought you thought I was beautiful!” she would look hurt and say, “But I DO! You ARE!”

- Was generous to a fault. Her packages were legendary in my dorm and she handed me money every single time I came home. Even after I had a job. “Just in case.”

- Cried every time I left to go back to Pittsburgh. She’d stand at the screen door and wave and cry as I pulled away.

- Thought I was brilliant. (Ha!)

- ALWAYS got my job wrong when telling her friends what I did, but always unintentionally promoted me. If I was working as a painter, she’d think I was an art director. If I was working as the scenic charge, she thought I was an art director. If I was designing, she thought I was the art…wait, I see a pattern here.

- Was always, ALWAYS on my side.

- Loved my friends and, no matter how much she liked any particular one, never thought any of my boyfriends were remotely good enough for me.

- Made sure we knew how much our dad loved us, and how proud he’d have been of us.

- Put three kids through college, as a single mom.


Of course, she also drove me absolutely nutso on a regular basis, was a compulsive shopper, had too many cats, and never cleaned her house.
But everyone’s got their faults.
In thirty or forty years, you can ask my kids about mine.

Happy Mother's Day, to all my mom (and about-to-be-moms!) friends out there!