It’s Mother’s Day

It’s probably been over 15 years since I spent Mother’s Day with my Mom. Most years pass on Mother’s Day with me just giving her a call to wish her the best on this day. Some years I send a card and once or twice flowers. This year I thought that it might be good for me, my Mom, and anyone that reads this blog to know a little something about my me and my mother.

In no particular order, here is a list of things that I can thank my mother for:

• Mom was the person that told me to be interested in other people. I remember sometime in late high school when she said that showing interest in others would be repaid tenfold in their interest in you. To this day I’ve maintained a genuine interest in my friends and acquaintances that I think is one of my better qualities.
• Mom is a great conversationalist. Not that Dad was that shabby in this area but, hey, this is Mother’s Day.
• Mom has always been outgoing and friendly to strangers. I’ve mimicked this in my life and made many friends from unexpected places. I can probably credit this behavior to how I became friends with Josh, Eli, Rich, Louie, Nicole, Anne, and several others that became fast friends from veritable strangers in just a few weeks.
• My eyes are my mothers.
• So are my hairy toes!
• Mom is a hard worker and, as far as I remember, never took a sick day from work. I’ve never actually been a zero sick day kind of guy but I can definitely credit my work ethic and far below average number of sick days to her influence.
• For good or for bad, my taste in food came from my Mother. It took me 10 years of living on my own to realize that the reason why I didn’t like olives was just because Mom didn’t like olives. In fact, I love olives. Here I was for 10 years just mimicking my Mom’s diet.
• Mom was the one that introduced me to Dire Straits–a band which I continue to love to this day–when she took me to my first concert. Mom brought me to this show because their rhythm guitarist, Jack Sonni, has worked for or with her at Allstate. I remember when Jack learned we were in the audience he sent out some backstage passes for Mom and I. As I was only 10 or so the value of the backstage pass eluded me (why the hell would I want to be back there instead of out in front watching the show?) When we turned down the offer, he sent out a program autographed by everyone in the band. I then made another great decision and turned down a guy sitting next to us who offered $300 for the program!
• I love the way that Mom always had a smile or a pleasant word for strangers. Even when she was upset over things going on in her own life she never projected her emotions and bring others down. I’ve never liked or befriended the mopey, self-interested, sad type of person and I think that all of my friends are the exact opposite of this. So in a way, the good qualities of my friends I selected from the behavior shown by my Mom.
• My addiction to very expensive hair stylists comes from Mom!

I hope that everyone’s doing well on this Mother’s Day. And I hope that when my Mom reads this, she’ll know that she’s on my mind. Happy Mother’s Day, Mom, I love you!