My Mothers Day Thoughts

As a son I appreciate the need to celebrate Mothers. My mother especially. She is not the easy going June Cleaver type or the Jane Wyman Father Knows Best type. She is more of a cross between Ma Kettle and Mrs. Tasmanian Devil. She has good core country values, Christian purpose but is not one to tangle with. I love my mother but she can be a handful. She is protective, sometimes belligerent, always defending herself and her family but not willing or able to just let slights go by. As her son, I have seen her in good times and bad. When we were poor living in a project and when we had everything. Through it all she remains consistently true to herself and family.

She is a little bit different because she hails from New Orleans, actually East of New Orleans in the swamps and Mississippi delta which breeds a particularly strong type of inidividual. She can dish it out and she can take it. There are times to joke around with her, get in an insult match but then there are times when she deserves a whole lot of leave alone.

Of course I can't lay the blame entirely at the feet of the great state of Louisiana. There was me, my brother and 2 step-brothers she inherited when she married my step-father who is another post altogether (Father's Day is coming up!). We did run wild and we definitely had a mind of our own. She did well to take care of us and not once did she ever say "Wait til your father gets home". Nope, she dealt with it right there no matter where we were or how many people were around to watch. She would go into this mode of anger that would distort the face and give her 5'2" frame adrenaline filled rage. Only saw this a handful of times.

One incident comes to mind when I grew taller than her and thought, yes I said thought, I could handle her whippings. Laughing while you are getting a whipping is a very bad idea. She would then grab anything and start swinging. I then had a new found respect for my mother, even though she is a full foot shorter than me. To this day, I don't disrespect her or try to challenge her in any way. I am always on my best behavior and respect her for the force of nature she is as well as the one I still find comfort in talking with. Even when she does get passionate and a bit loud about something I am going through (My divorce deserves its own series of posts and how my parents helped me though it).

At the end of the day I love my mother even though she can be a challenge. I take my share of the blame for giving her problems growing up that probably required her to toughen up far beyond that expected of the fairer gender. I will always respect her and laugh when I hear someone saying they had a tough time with their mother. I enjoy the memories of my childhood even though at the time they weren't very enjoyable.