Saturday, September 5, 2009

Ode to Mom... September 8th, 1932

It is Saturday morning. It rains with a continual pace. I forgot to bring in the cushions from the deck last night so they are soaked this morning after a night full of rain. Yes it is coffee time. I haven't had mine yet but the inner voice of a caffeine addicted woman on a Saturday morning is banging on the walls of my head. Coffee, chocolate flavored coffee! Someone in the Coffee Universe of coffee flavor creating Gods knows my Achilles heel! Yes it will be that indeed...Double Dutch Chocolate Coffee! With creamer!

How did my Mom ever survive raising five kids without the aid of flavored coffees and martinis? She had to have her martinis and coffee straight! Astounding to me! Mom turns 77 this week. Tuesday to be exact. How do you really tell someone of such magnitude the impact they have in your lives in the people you see? I think she would be amazed if she knew how many times I have had her with me in the office, teaching, public speaking, shopping (of course), in the kitchen even at the gas station without her ever being physically with me. Growing up she was a forced to be reckoned with and the safest lap I knew when all was at a loss. Still a wondrous woman!


So I am reflective of her this weekend. Not just because it is "Labor day" weekend...that in itself should honor moms too for other reasons. (I can save that for another blog this weekend!) The reason is to examine my mom thus helps me to examine myself. Has it ever happened to you where you are talking to your kids and then somewhere in there we realize your mother's voice is coming out of our mouth and we are stopped dead in our tracks. Was that my mother's voice? Somewhere in my brain there was a message that came out like autopilot and made me inventory the room for my mother's presence. Perrhaps that is something that just the women in the world are confronted with. Oh my God! I think I swore at fourteen I would never be like my mother! Not only am I like her, I sound like her and it is terrifying. Is it that 14 years old trapped inside of me recognizing my mother's voice, her idioms, her euphemisms? I used to wonder why she could do such wondrous things with idioms and crossword puzzles. She grew up without television.(I never watch it anymore ...no time that is telling!) She is well read and educated and holds her own in a conversation as well as at dinner parties. Truly a Renaissance woman! Good for me she was raised on a farm. I never used to think that was a great thing but now looking back I was so lucky. I learned from a woman who could do anything. Then if she couldn't do it she sure as hell knew how to find someone to do it or she would figure it out herself. She is a resourceful one that supermom of mine. I am thinking of her and the parts of me that are her. I am thinking that about the contributions to my world that are a direct or indirect ripple from her.

So here it is the mantra for the day...slow down! Stay away from the authority(don't speed when driving to the mall?), listen to the rain. Know everything is as it should be. Be mindful and grateful of what gifts you have been given, time, people to love and the space to become a better person. Mindful. Thanks Mom! Chocolate cofee awaits!

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