Mother's Day 2009

Mother’s Day 2009
May 10th
Today is Mother’s Day. A day that is probably filled with more mixed emotions than there are women wearing fanny packs out at
First Monday.
Nothing seems to lodge in the mind so securely as the well-turned maternal phrase, we’ll call Momilies (those special little sayings your mom used to use). Just listen to your conversations and notice how frequently you offer up a maxim, a piece of advice, or even a threat that your mother used to say… and you swore you never would!
Momilies get passed down from generation to generation. Many of them are all-purpose, a few are cruel, the majority loving. What's amazing is how, year in, year out, they guide our behavior, in ways both large and small. In fact, all you need to do is think of one of your mother's favorite sayings and her voice is magically in your ear,
whether you like it or not.
She may have not been the smartest women to have ever lived, and Lord knows she wasn’t perfect, but the truth is, Mom taught us just about everything we know about life.
Things My Mother Taught Me
My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE "If you're going to kill each other, do it outside - I just finished cleaning!" My mother taught me RELIGION "You better pray that will come out of the carpet." My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL "If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!" My mother taught me REASON "Because I said so, that's why."
My mother taught me FORESIGHT "Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident" My mother taught me IRONY "Keep crying and I'll give you something to cry about." My mother taught me about the science of
OSMOSIS "Shut your mouth and eat your supper!" My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM "Will you "look" at the dirt on the back of your neck!"
My mother taught me THE CIRCLE OF LIFE "I brought you into this world, and I can take you out."
My Mother taught me about ANTICIPATION "Just wait until we get home."
And my all time favorite... My Mother taught me about JUSTICE "One day you'll have kids ... and I hope they turn out
just like you!
Mother… there are very few words that can
conjure so many emotions by just hearing or
thinking on them, as that word does.
Many of you here today are flooded with warm thoughts of the woman who sacrificed for you, soothed your scraped knees and broken hearts, kissed your fevered foreheads, had some weird sort of ESP, and had eyes in the back of her head.
But others of you were not so fortunate. The word mother may bring feelings that sting your heart. The memories of mom for you are of a self-centered, self-absorbed, unsympathetic, and perhaps even
uncaring and selfish woman.
I don’t mean to make excuses, nor do I intend to
defend anyone’s honor. But one thing I have learned in life, is that it’s easier to judge someone else than it is to understand the reasons behind their behavior.
I don’t know what kind of mom you had and I certainly don’t know the hand she was dealt.
But the one thing I do believe, is that deep in the heart of every woman who wears the title, MOM, beats the desire to be good at it. She may not know how to love you, (because no one ever showed her), but she tries in her own way to do it.
Let’s face it, there are no real moms like Marjorie Lord in Make Room for Daddy, or Jane Wyatt in Father Knows Best, or Harriet Nelson of Ozzie and Harriet, or Barbara Billingsley of Leave It To Beaver.
Erma Bombeck, now there was a real mother. For 30 years she made us laugh and she made us think! She referred to these women as the “Prime-Time Mothers”.
“They look better cleaning their houses than most us did at our wedding. They never lose their temper, gain weight, spend more money than their husbands make, or give us any
reason not to believe that they were living out their lives in celibacy.”
Bombeck reacts to such perfect moms by
admitting her failure to achieve it.
“I was one of the not-quite-ready-for-prime-time mothers. I never wore hose around the house all day, nor did I know anyone personally who did. My kids were the ones the prime-time mothers would not let their kids play with.”
But on the serious side she said, “We all know that being a mom is the hardest, most rewarding job on the face of the earth.”
“You don’t love me!” Bombeck asks, “How many times have your kids laid that one on you?”
She adds; “Someday, when my children are old enough to understand the logic that motivates a mother, I’ll tell them…
I loved you enough to bug you about where you were going, with whom and what time you would get home.
I loved you enough to insist you buy a bike with your own money, which we could afford, and you couldn't.
I loved you enough to be silent and let you discover your hand picked friend was a creep.
I loved you enough to stand over you for two hours while you cleaned your bedroom, a job that would have taken me 15 minutes.
I loved you enough to say, "Yes, you can go to Disney World on Mother's Day."
I loved you enough to let you see anger, disappointment, disgust, and tears in my eyes.
I loved you enough not to make excuses for your lack of respect or your bad manners.
I loved you enough to admit that I was wrong and ask for your forgiveness.
I loved you enough to ignore "what every other mother" did or said.
I loved you enough to let you stumble, fall, hurt, and fail.
I loved you enough to let you assume the responsibility for your own actions, at 6, 10, or 16.
I loved you enough to figure you would lie about the party being chaperoned, but forgave you for it...after discovering I was right.
I loved you enough to shove you off my lap, let go of your hand, be mute to your pleas and insensitive to your demands...so that you had to stand alone.
I loved you enough to accept you for what you are, and not what I wanted you to be.
But most of all, I loved you enough to say no when you hated me for it. And that was the hardest part of all.
So, if you had a Mom that conjures up
feelings of resentment and bitterness, there is not better day to forgive her, to try to
understand her even if she’s gone, or to give her another chance if she is still alive, than today, Mother’s Day!
And if your Mom was one of those not ready for prime time moms, who still has place in your heart and a voice in your ear, then there is no better day to remember and
appreciate her, than today, Mother’s Day.