A Mom Story

With a start, I heard "Michael! You are needed imediately, it's urgent!" 

I don't think there is anyone that is so connected to us throughout are whole entire lives any more powerfully than our Mother. 

I was in my early 20's working at the Orillia Y as the Assistant Swim Coach.  It had been a good practice and it was a Thursday evening. Taking a long shower to let the worries of the day run lazily down my back and swirl around the drain down into memory.  

You remember the meals they made. The way they cared for you when you were sick.  They are the champion in your court when you were in trouble with ...well...anyone. It is the Mom, that will make first contact with the farm and throughly vett us before our vegetables are allowed to pass the threshold of a home and onto the table to feed her 'little' family.

Trance broken, confused I focused to see the Y facilities General Manager, standing fully clothed in the open shower area with a tense expression.

"Right now!!" he reitterated.

I followed his hastened lead, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around my naked frame as I scrambled out of the locker area to the main lobby. There I was met by a tight huddle of concerned people all mirroring the General Manager's state of worry.  There was the Team President, a supportive board member, and the receptionist who immediately passed the phone, her eyes full of emotion.  

Moms are the encouragers of our dreams. They put our artwork on the kitchen fridge and proudly wear the clunky necklace we made for them out in public. 

So, there I was, standing, dripping onto the floor with nothing but a towel surrounded by people tense and waiting with baited breathe to be of immediate assistance.

Bringing the phone to  my ear, the Y facilities GM silently mouthed, "Your Mother". I nodded.

It is from our Mother that we learn what sacrificial love truly is. We confide with them, in trust, our most closely held confidences, fears and aspirations. Because for them, nothing, not one thing, is more important to them than their child. 

"Hello...Mom?"

But it is also that same myopic view, momentarily bereft of reason, that can sometimes get them into a little bit of trouble from time to time. And for this fraility, because of all that they are to us, we cherish them all the more.

"Oh hello dear, I am just so relieved to hear your voice! I am out at Sears. I am using the managers phone because they are having this wonderful sale that ends today with these shirts I know you will like but I can't remember, are you still a medium or is that your brother?..."  

LOL..I love you to Mom :-)

Happy Mother's day!

~Michael