Story About Mom

With Mother's Day fast approaching, I suppose I should take a few moments to relate a story about my Mom. First of all, I thought about her today because of a conversation I had with someone at work. I have related this story many times because it is both funny and really represents what my Mom was all about.

I'll start by saying that my Mom passed away about a year and a half ago and I miss her terribly. She would be turning 86 on her upcoming birthday. As I think I have mentioned, I was a late life kid, along with my two other brothers. My Mom was approaching her 37th birthday when I was born in 1958 and there was another three years behind me. Then, kids were born when parents were in their 20's, so my Mom always had a complex when people commented about her three grandchildren. "They're mine!!" she would exclaim with great indignation.

Well, one day when I was at work in the early 90's, probably about '93 or so, I got a frantic call from my sister (thirteen years older than me) that she and my Mom had been in a car accident. I probably turned three shades of white because of fear that something really tragic had happened. My Mom would have been in her early 70's at that time. I noticed a slight tinge of humor and laughter in my sister's voice that confused me.

My sister started by telling me that my mother had committed the act for which many older driver's bear great consternation. She had driven her car through the plate glass window of a local department store. My sister related that they were both OK, but that Mom was really worried that my Dad would kill her due to both the accident and the damage to the car.

I managed to get my sister to tell me what happened. My Mom was on a mission to buy a new sweater for my Dad for Father's Day. This local department store had a sweater that my mom really liked. (This should not be a big deal, but my Mom was a rather determined woman.) She asked my sister to accompany her to the store to buy this sweater. This store, still in the town where I grew up, as far as I know, was in a shopping center where you could park your car perpendicularly to the sidewalk outside the store. She did this. But, instead of placing the car in "park", it was left in "drive and she for some reason hit the accelerator pedal. The car jumped the curb and went right through a large plate glass window.

Now, in cases such as this, there could be injuries and excuses as to what happened. Nobody was injured, and my Mom completely owned up to the fact that she had blown it! A few minutes after the the "grand entrance" , and the shock subsided, my Mom got out of the car, got my sister out, and requested that someone call a tow truck.

She also noticed that the rack upon which the very sweaters she went to purchase was just a few feet from where the car came to a halt. While all of the administrative actions were happening, Mom went to the rack, selected the sweater she wanted to buy for Dad, and took it to the counter to be paid for. She used her in-store credit card AND had the store giftwrap the package. About the time that this transaction was completed, the tow truck was pulling her car, a gold Ford Taurus as I recall, out of the store.

She babbled all the way home about how my Dad would kill her and how completely embarrassed she was about the whole incident. But, this is so typical of how she was.

My Mom and Dad had little money, but she was a women of great dignity and drive. She often told me that she was a mother bear who would rip apart anyone who would attack one of her cubs. But she was also calm as could be and always was known to be a focused fighter.

The fact that she would have had this type accident and still command enough dignity to finish what she set out to accomplish, made her ever so much more special to me.

I remember going home for Father's Day that year. It was a few months after this whole thing happened. When my Dad opened the package, my Mom proudly announced that he was the only man on the block to own a $4,000 sweater! My Dad looked at her, knew exactly what she was referring to, as did all of us kids, and gave her the biggest hug! It brings me smiles and tears to remember it even after all these years.

Mom suffered from dementia the few years she had after my Dad passed away. She became such a shadow of the firebrand she once was. But I can always remember stories like this to help me remember her the way I prefer to.

I would like to say "Happy Mother's Day" to the memory of my Mom. She was a great woman. I am so lucky to have had this remarkable woman raise me into the man I have become. Thanks, Mom!!

I swear to you all that this story is completely true. It was covered in the local paper, and as a fourth generation native of the town, and with a family name well known, she was mortified about how this played out. I'll laugh to my dying day about this wonderful story, about a wonderful woman, who raised me to be the man I have become.

Please make sure that you all honor your mothers this Mother's Day. Too soon it happens that they are gone. Take it from me. Time does not heal all wounds.