All about Mom

Let's focus on Mom today, because, well, it's Mother's Day! But also because it's about time we give her some attention. Dad has this way of sucking all of the air away from Mom, whether it's by sitting quietly, with a deep-set frown on his face or by softly complaining about something...anything.

I don't mean this post to throw Dad under the bus. Trust me, I'm a huge Dad fan, and you'll hear more about that in the coming days. But Mom deserves a little limelight, if you will.

Honestly, Mom and I never got along all that well as I was growing up. I was absolutely convinced that she just didn't "get" me. I also vastly underestimated her intelligence and her wit. Dad was always the funny one who knew everything. Mom was content to simply stand in his shadow. That's so unfair.

One of the many blessings of having new roomies is that I'm rediscovering Mom. I'm learning who she is. I'm figuring out that she's an amazing, amazing woman. She and I have one big thing in common - we've both lost children. When my son Andrew was born severely developmentally disabled, she was crushed. I didn't understand it at the time, but I do now. She had lost my younger sister Lisa to Leukemia and it happened at a time (1968) when therapists were mostly for "crazy" people. My Dad lived his Don Draper-like existence in the advertising world while my Mom stayed home with us and wondered how anybody could go on after that. That explains a lot.

I seem to remember Mom as being really crabby while I was growing up. Maybe I was the crabby one because now, she's an absolute almost constant ray of sunshine. In the midst of being uprooted from her home, she's just happy to sit and chat with somebody, anybody. It's nothing short of amazing.

Last night, Hubby and I talked with our daughter about how she feels about hanging out with Grandma. She laughed and said: "Every time she walks in a room, she asks if she can do anything for me. I want to tell her 'I'm here to take care of YOU!'" A double-wow in that one. First that Mom is always putting EVERYONE'S needs before her own and also that our daughter feels this sense of responsibility in this new living situation.

I probably tend to be more like Dad in that I complain a lot. My hope is that I'll somehow absorb Mom's attitude and learn to roll with the punches a bit more. Lord knows it'll come in handy in the coming days, months and years.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom. You are AWESOME.