Here it is…already the month of May. Can you believe it?... Me either! It’s the month when we know that the showers from the previous month bring May’s flowers. It’s also a month where we, or at least I, start feeling like old man Winter may be loosening his grasp, and may finally be "on his way." Simply put, the snowstorms we experienced throughout the winter and spring, rapidly fade into memories past.
With the lack of snow, we then begin to see plants leap from the earth, tree buds burst to form leaves that provide shade in the summer sun, and grasses that really start to grow. And with the continuation of spring rain, what once was a dingy, dead, brown backdrop that filled our lives throughout the winter, quickly becomes a landscape that is replenished in a beautiful Technicolor hue.
And although all of these points I mentioned about the month of May are wonderful and exciting, I cannot help, but think of, and mention one more very important reason why May is so important to me.
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| My Mother, Marlene, and I in 1971. |
Some might jump to the conclusion that my heart felt warmth towards the month of May might be because it's my birthday month, an anniversary of a great accomplishment like a graduation, or even the month with which I completed my first marathon...but no! The one thing that makes this month so special to me is also one of the most important things we all have and can experience in this life, our mothers.
This is definitely a time of year, especially now that I am older, when I take time to pause in my busy life. During that pause, I take a deep breath, put some quiet music on and I get out the old pictures and the hand written cards I received, over my lifetime, from that one very important person. While reading the cards, I embrace some of the things that belonged to her and quietly gaze at the pictures that stir up feelings of nostalgia. I then realize that this person has been my rock...my FOUNDATION. The one person, next to my father, that has given me the most love and support in my life. That one person that tucked me into bed, sang the bedtime songs, kissed the “owies” better and the same person that helped shape me into the person I am, my mother.
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| Left to Right...Me, Marlene (Mom), Angie and Lora |
It was not in May but March 31st of 1970, in which I came into this world. I can’t say as I can remember anything from that first day, but I sometimes wonder what it would have been like to be a fly on the wall during that moment of my first breaths of life? To see a young mother, barely 27 years old at the time, hold her third child, but her first son, and experience and feel the warmth that only a mother’s smile can give…To hear my first cry, only to be subdued and quieted by the gentle whisper and peaceful humming of a mother’s voice…To witness the warm embrace and joy of an innocent mother, completely exhausted, still able to hold and cuddle her child as they fall to sleep…to witness a mother’s love.
When I was about twelve years old, I read a quote about mothers that I wanted to share with you that really impressed me. It impressed me so much that even as a young boy, I cut out that portion of the article and saved it for over thirty years in order to share it at special occasions such as this. I can’t remember exactly where it came from, but I feel it is one of the best-written expressions of what mothers should be and mean to all of us.
“To my mind, mothers are the closest things to heaven there is. Even in their humanness they give us a glimpse of what heavenly parents must be like. I honor them for their courage; I praise them for their sacrifice: I love them for their ability to laugh and cry (and to do both at the same time). If ever there were a sacred title, to me at least, it would be that of Mother.”
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| My beautiful Mother who started this blog. |
So even though I don’t have my mother here on earth to tell her I love her, I will do my best to ponder in my mind and in my heart how much I do care for and love her. And I hope with enough meditation and thought, that my message will be carried on the gentle breezes aloft all the way to heaven to let her know I will be thinking of her on her special day.
The message, you might ask, is really quite simple…”I love and miss you Mom! Please thank God for allowing me to have you for forty-three and a half years as a mother. And even though it still hurts to not have you here with me, I understand and realize that there must be a much greater purpose for which God needed you by calling you home…Oh, and P.S., THANK YOU, from the WHOLE of my heart, for allowing me to experience a mother’s love!!! OXOX”
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HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY, on the 14th, to all the Moms out there. And for those of you that have your mothers still here with you, make sure to show them you care because, “A mother is she who can take the place of all others but whose place NO ONE else can take.”
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