Happy Mother's Day

I realize I talk a lot more about my Dad on here than my Mom. That's more due to circumstances than anything else. Since today is Mother's Day I wanted to talk about my Mom.

My Mom was born 74 years ago in a small town outside Memphis Tennessee. It's actually the same small town she lives in today. Inbetween she moved to Memphis, met my Dad and got married and than moved around the country as the wife of a Navy Sailor.

My Mom was born into poverty. Her Dad was a farmer. She had two brother and two sisters, she was the middle child. The girls had one room, the boys another. They didn't have an indoor bathroom until she was in high school. I remember the outhouse when we used to visit when I was a kid.

During high school my Mom played basketball. From what I gather she was pretty good. Back than there wasn't much for a woman basketball player to do, so after school she got a job in a bank in downtown Memphis. Going into the city today is an experience, she gives a history lesson of what the city was like back when she was an emerging adult. What store was at that corner, where she used to live down that street, what it was like taking the bus from her apartment she shared with five other girls to work and back.

When my Dad came to Memphis he was in the Navy. They got married and he didn't reup. He tried driving a city bus for awhile. He tried a few other things. He decided to re enlist in the Navy. Actually I found out years later, after he died, when my Mom pointed out this older man at his wake. It was an old friend of his from the Navy, she said. He had ran into my parents when they were at the zoo with me and he had convinced my Dad to go back in. Shortly afterwards they were transfered to New Jersey, where my Dad was from. It was always they...when you're in the military it's not my Dad that was transfered, it's the both of them. My Dad might have been the one in uniform, but when your spouse is in the military it's both of you in there.

Growing up both my parents instilled a deep appreciation of learning in me and my brother. They wanted my brother and me to go farther than they did. My Mom isn't much of a reader, she never has been, but she never let that stop her from making sure that I read and read as much and as well as possible. I've joked that I've been in some sort of book club since I was like five.

My Mom has a strong sense of right and wrong. She's never taken to lying and cheating. And she made sure we knew that in the strongest sense of the word.

My Mom worked just like my Dad. All my life I remember my Mom working. But she still made sure she had time for us.

It's easy to take for granted those that are always around us and care for us. We just assume that's the way it is and will always be. Well, it's not always true. Sooner or later it changes. We need to make sure we appreciate these people while they're here. Make sure you call you Mom today and wish her a Happy Mother's Day.

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