Sunday, May 8, 2011

Happy Mother's Day - Thank You!

Today is Mother's Day!

This morning, my wife and I will meet her brother and his family to take their Mom to lunch.

My Mom-in-Law is a wonderful Mom! She is a great lady. She has worked hard, and raised both my wife and her brother right. And yes, like most Moms, no matter what age you are - you are still her child.

My Mom's the same way.

And yes, God Bless them both for being the way they are. For me, I think my wife and her brother were blessed to have such a great Mom.

After lunch, my wife and her Mom and I will join my Mom at a Bar-B-Q with my brother's family at their home in San Leandro. Yes, the city! And yes, parking will be a bear as usual.

But honestly, it will be nice. And yes, all of the Mom's there will be in heaven as they hand my niece's new baby girl from one shoulder to another to another to another.  My Mom has already designed her plan of action. She said if she sees the baby alone for a minute - on her shoulder she goes.

Baby's have a way of bringing out the Mother Instinct in women, but moreso in Moms. They love the feeling of a newborn's little body, their tiny hands and fingers not yet able to grab at their glasses, the coos, the wisp of a small smile that you know is the most honest true pure smile of pleasure on earth.

My Mom, who's 76 years old, always sees a newborn as the newest and greatest gift from God. And that's the way it really should be, a new baby should be treated as a gift from God. 

After all, boy or girl, it doesn't matter! He or she could rightfully be that gift we've all been waiting for. The gift of being another good person in our flock.  The chances are good and better than we realize!

Imagine for a moment what this newborn, my new grand-niece, will learn and the new world she has entered. She'll have more technology, more ways to learn, and there will be more ways to help her learn everything.  There are so many more tools to help educate kids today than there was when I was a child.

She could grow and be that person who writes an inspirational book, or maybe cures cancer. She might grow up to solve hunger in America, or maybe she'll find the cure to MS or diabetes. It is not that much of a stretch that this child could be a doctor, an engineer, or a master craftsmen.

It's not hard to imagine that she can do some of the great things we need to survive.  Heck, maybe she'll be a rancher, or farmer, or dairymen? Maybe she'll build a children's hospital using a hammer and square, or a drafting table?  Maybe she's lend her talents and knowledge to the development of the next generation of CAT Scan or MRI?

But hopefully she's grow up to be a good Mom, like her Mom, and bring us the next man or women who will work hard and raise their children right? Heck, that in itself is as great a goal as curing cancer!

Moms see this! Moms see it in us from that first moment of our life. Moms know things that no one knows, and they stand guard night and day. They live for us, and sometimes have that wooden spoon or slipper to get us back on the straight and narrow.

My wife said that she heard some DJ on the radio talk about their Mom having "The Wooden Spoon" when they were growing up. He said, "It was made of hickory, struck by lightning, and soaked in jalapeno juice!"

Now that sounds like a wooden spoon to be reckoned with.

And yes, some of the things we remember while growing up seem to have no rhyme or reason at the time. But later we all have to admit that if it wasn't for Mom, some of us would have never become the people we are today.

Moms see the good and the hard work ahead. They see that the chore is worth the prize. And the prize is being proud that your children turned out good and straight and solid. The prize is knowing that at the end, their children learned the difference between right and wrong and how to treat others the way that you want to be treated.

That is the Golden Rule, and most Moms who I've known whisper a silent prayer that their child has truly learns that early on.  After all, among the many things that Moms teach us, the difference between right and wrong and how to treat others with respect is among the most important.

Yes, the possibilities are endless. And yes, contrary to the News, there are more chances then not that she will grow up in a loving supportive family surrounded by those who care.  Of course if no one else is there, Mom will be there. 

My new grand-niece will have her time to learn, and her Mom, her grand-mother, and yes her great-grand-mother will be there to help along the way.  But for now, on this day, she will be passed on from shoulder to shoulder and hopefully the love will fill her senses.

And my Mom, well I can only pray to God that some of my Mom's goodness rubs off.  

I pray that my Mom will have more Mother's Days to again have me, or my brothers and sisters say - Thanks Mom!

I think it's OK to speak for my brothers and sisters when I say, we love you! 

Happy Mother's Day


Story by Tom Correa

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