Published: May 08, 2008 11:13 am            

Moms I have known

According to my desk calendar, this Saturday is “Mother’s Day” in Mexico and Sunday is “Mother’s Day” in the United States and Canada. Therefore, it seems appropriate that I should steer this week’s rant toward mothers, motherhood, and even mothers-in-law.

According to “Mister Computer,” Mother’s Day is celebrated on various days virtually all over the world. Ancient Greek and Roman festivals honoring motherhood led to later Christian celebrations of Mary, mother of Jesus, and the traditional concept of “Mother Church.” As a result of secularization, the holiday is now principally to celebrate and give thanks for mothers.

Mother’s Day, in this country, was originally established to unite women against war and for reconciliation after the Civil War. The concept of a national Mother’s Day kept growing as a holiday and finally, in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother’s Day as a day for American citizens to show the flag in honor of those mothers whose sons had died in war.

In the United States, the concept has continued to grow to the point where Mother’s Day is one of our most commercially successful holidays. It is now the most popular day of the year to dine out at a restaurant in this country. As I have said before, Mother’s Day is one of the few non-patriotic special recognition days that I can fully support.

I am very fortunate to have been blessed with the very best of mother-figures in my life. These wonderful women include my dear mother, a step-mother, two (count ‘em, two) mothers-in-law, and the sainted mother of my son. It is fair to say that I came into these women’s lives with all my warts, quirks, and rough spots exposed and they all did their part to turn me into the polished gem I am today.

My mom was a five-foot, two-inch silver-headed dynamo who was a household foreman, working mom, financial wizard, coach, chauffeur, disciplinarian, and decision maker all rolled up in one package. My dad was a physical hulk of a man but he knew very well who was in charge. If I may use a military analogy to describe our family unit, mom was the colonel, dad was the sergeant, and my brother and I were the privates.

At nest-emptying time, my brother and I were so used to marching to mom’s drum that we both joined the military right out of high school. Coincidentally we both brought war-brides back into the fold from Europe — my brother’s wife was from Austria and mine was from Texas. Mom welcomed them both with open arms into the family unit but made it very clear that she still was the colonel. However, I must admit that mom never once interfered with any of our decisions on raising our kids, even thought she probably suspected we were doing it wrong. We finally lost this wonderful woman to cancer in 1990 — a recurrence of the disease that she had whipped over 35 years prior.

At age 75, my dad remarried a widow who, along with her late husband, had been friends with mom and dad for years. I was a little worried about this marriage, because Beverly had actually buried three prior husbands and two of them were just napping. Oh, stop booing, I’m only kidding! Anyway, they spent seven wonderful years together and we have since lost both of them.

I met my first mother-in-law in Germany when I started dating her daughter. She was a very straight-laced, Church of Christ raised daughter of Texas who thought I was a wild Yankee whose intentions were less than honorable. We did have one important thing in common though — we both wished I had married someone else. Oh stop booing, Gayla, you know I’m just kidding! Anyway, we grew to love each other dearly and I knew I was completely accepted the first time we came down from Denver to Mesquite to visit after we all got back to the states. Christine had driven from “dry” Mesquite to the next county to put a couple six-packs in the refrigerator for me. What a gal! Christine followed my military career proudly and personified that old saying, “Behind every successful man is an amazed mother-in-law.” Sadly, we also lost her to cancer in 1982.

At age 60, my father-in-law remarried and brought Dorothy into our lives. He came all the way to Denver to show his daughter a picture of his intended and he said, “I’d like to have your blessing to marry this woman, but it is not required.” Chris is now gone from us, but Dorothy lives in Waxahachie and we visit real often. She is so sweet, she makes Marie Osmond look like “Mommy Dearest.”

Lastly, the most important mother in my life is my life partner, best friend, and love of my life, Gayla. She will always be my horse, if she never wins a race. She is the tossed salad on my buffet of life. Honey, you know I love you, and since I won’t be able to get to town before Sunday, please consider this your Mother’s Day Card.

I’ll close with a couple quotes by famous mothers in history. Jonah’s mother: “That’s quite a nice story — now tell me where you’ve really been.” Mona Lisa’s mother: “After all the money your father and I spent on braces, is that the biggest smile you can give us?” Columbus’s mother: “I don’t care what you’ve discovered, you could have written!” Einstein’s mother: “But it’s your senior picture! Can’t you do something about your hair?”

See ya later…

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Dick Platt is a Daily Sun columnist. His column appears on Thursdays.

        

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