Happy Mudder's Day

 

Happy Mudder's Day

 

      What can I say?  What is new about mothers?  It’s all been said.  It’s in the Mother’s Day Cards. 

 

Mother's Day Card

     Most mothers are wonderful.  Most care most about their children.  Not all.  I watch Criminal Minds; I know there are evil people out there. 

   Criminal Minds

     I could tell you that I had a wonderful mother.  I did.  She was exceptional, not just as a mother, but as a human being.  I could tell you I am a wonderful mother.  I would be lying.  I do try but I have not lived up to the gold standard.  I might score "adequate" on the Provincial Rubric.  I am not going to enumerate my successes or my failures here.  My daughters could probably fill you in. 

 

Barbara and Mother, Charlotte

 

     Mothers are so vital in the construction of human beings, beyond the biological creation.  I am just realizing, in my late 50s, that I put a lot of stock in mothers.  I jump to the conclusion that if the mother is a good person, her children are likely to be good people too, and vice versa.  You might call that judgemental.  Go ahead. 

     Just imagine the mothers of these people.

Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, Barack Obama

 

     And consider this  mother, author Isabel Allende, who nursed her 28-year-old daughter to a premature death, then wrote a book about it.  Mothers do phenomenal things.

 

Isabel Allende with son Nicholas and daughter Paula

Paula, by Isabel Allende

     Around Mother’s Day last year, I met a man whom I have come to admire in many ways.  A very successful businessman, he is a Newfoundlander by birth.  You might call that racial profiling.  Go ahead. 

Newfoundland

     This man and I were randomly thrown into a social situation that involved a bottle of rum.  Lest you think me an avid drinker, let me assure you I am not.  You might call that denial.  Go ahead. 

Appleton Rum

     As the rum in the bottle diminished, this man's Newfoundland accent strengthened remarkably.  My Newfoundland accent strengthened minimally.  His stories were most entertaining, his speech patterns downright musical.  Eventually the word Mother became Mudder, and Mudder figured highly in the ensuing stories.  There was the story of childhood mealtime in the family of 5, mostly boys.  Mudder never saw the older brother stealing off the plate of the younger brother and only turned around in time to see the victim of supper-theft stab the thief-brother in the back of his hand with the fork.  But of course Mudder figured it out and cuffed one boy and bandaged the other. 

Hungry Brudder

     Then there was the story about two of the brothers who were stationed in Afghanistan.  One brother was not sharing his access to extra rations with the other brother.  A phone call was made from Afghanistan to Mudder in Newfoundland and that bit of sibling inequity was soon straightened out.  I call that one powerful mother. 

Brudder Calling Mudder

     I could go on about mothers… Mother Theresa, Mother Earth, Mother May I, Mother Superior, Motherboards, Whistler’s Mother, MotherLode, Mommie Dearest, Mother Jones.  Some of those mothers are not mothers in the literal sense of the word, but they can still be mothering.  Think of all the people who have mothered you.  I’ll leave you with Jann Arden’s Good Mother . “I’ve got a good mother and her voice is what keeps me here.”

Jann Arden

 

 

......Until Next Time....