Happy Mother's Day

Dad, mom, and me. 1967 photo

 Happy Mother's Day!  

 It's a day to celebrate our moms; mothers of our children; and moms everywhere.

 

 Everyone has a mom.  Some mother-son or mother-daughter connections are stronger than others.  Some are close from the first time eyes meet; others never quite connect the way they hoped.

 I grew up at a time when most moms who dropped kids at school and picked us up after; or served as room mothers and den mothers (for Cub Scout troops).

 Mom showed us she loved us by taking care of us.  It was hard work but I don't remember her complaining.  When I got tired and bored a month into being a Bobcat in my first year of Cub Scouts she became a den mother for me and three other kids for our weekly meetings. I still didn't like scouting and left it after one year but not for my mom's lack of trying. 

In sixth and seventh grade I played on the St. Paul boys' basketball B-team.  Practice started at 5:30, after the A-team, so mom had supper ready early so I could eat with time to digest before practice.  

Mom grew up on a farm where everyone in the family, every one, worked hard.  Mom told me near the end of her life she never really learned how to play or have fun.  She enjoyed coloring books of birds and other scenes; she found joy serving as a volunteer for quite a few organizations; and one of my favorite memories was during the summer when the two of us would each get an ice cream cone while we watched Match Game on TV.   (Looking back, I was too young at the time to understand much of the humor on that show.)

I suspect each generation of moms take something they liked about what they saw in their mom and grandma and carried on the tradition while adjusting or tweaking some things to improve the next generation.

 

Moms aren't perfect.  The vast majority do their best, trusting that mistakes can be washed with love.  Thankfully, they look at their kids with love-colored glasses.

 

Happy Mother's Day!