- Pronouns
- He/Him
To my Mom
May 9th 2019
By Olde Delaware
In just about 5 minutes time, it will have been one month since I last got to talk to my mom. My mom and I were very close, often times we blurred the lines on a typical mother and son relationship. Nothing gross or anything, just we talked in frank terms and made jokes that I doubt others would make with their parents all of the time or sometimes at any time. My mom went from being my mom to my best friend so quickly, it was a night and day change.
But first, a little background on my mom.
My dad passed away in 2003 suddenly after complications from surgery. Before he passed, I promised him that I would do everything I could to take care of my mom. My dad was a strong willed man, a veteran of war. He was old fashioned, born in 1945 but progressive enough to tell me that he doubted my mom needed to be cared for. But still, its the promise any father would make his son or daughter keep.
Take care of your mom for me.
It was a promise I took seriously for obvious reasons.
School for me was never fun, I got bullied a lot for being overweight. Living in Maryland, outside DC was my chance at a real fresh start and I took it. When my mom and dad separated we moved to Southern Maryland and from 1999-2003 I lived in La Plata, MD. The town was quiet, the schools were amazing. I had finally found my place and had friends for the first time in my life. Moving back to Delaware was a kick in the gut and I know my mom hated to pull me out of an environment where I was getting hard A's and actually enjoying school, but life is like that some times. In the months that followed my dad's passing, we hadn't received his pension and her boyfriend skipped town. I took on a full time job at 15 to pay the bills while still going to school full time.
I am sure many of you out there know what that's like, Getting up at 6, going off to school, home at 2 or 3, off to work till 11pm, homework then up at 6. That was my routine 2 years. By the time I graduated HS, we had finally received my dad's pension and things were a little easier. I took a year off of school and took a full time security job for a retailer. As I was about to go back to college, my mom had her first heart attack.
The word frozen doesn't even begin to describe how I felt when I had to call 911 for the first time. My mom however, she is sitting there putting on makeup. "If I am going to the hospital I am going to look good". It made me laugh, she chuckled a bit. She is literally having this heart attack and she is making jokes.
Thats the kind of person my mom was.
My mom always knew how to bring out the best in me and push me into making a decision, often times the right one.
I had quit political games like NS for almost 2 years, my mom asked me if I still played and I said no. She pushed me to get back into them, told me that I always seemed more confident and structured when I was playing them. So for mom, I jumped back on the horse. Its safe to say I wouldn't be here in Euro or have the friends I have made through games like this without my mom's constant support.
I also wouldn't have my love of politics itself. She got me involved in my first political campaign. She worked as Campaign Manager for a Democratic Insurance Commissioner candidate in the late 90s. I got to hand out bumper stickers and buttons. She was a hardcore Democrat and it always, ALWAYS became a sticking point for her on how I turned out to be a Republican. "You always had to be the opposite of me" My mom would say. I never got the chance to tell her, but I feel like I became a Republican because my mom taught me and raised me to think differently and never be afraid to stand up for what you believe in and never be afraid to look at the other side of the coin. My mom never pushed her views on me or on anyone and because of that, I am forever grateful that my mom gave me the chance to be the human I wanted to be, rather than what she wanted to be.
Then there was her strength and toughness, my mom was easily the toughest person I have ever met in my entire life. She suffered her entire life, from scoliosis and the surgeries to correct it, all 3 of them. Arthritis, bad knees, bad neck, everything you could think of wrong with her. Yet, she got up every day and worked. She would work first at an engine company as a driver. Then as a bartender/waitress. Then a grocery store clerk, then a drug store clerk. She worked every day of her life for 50 years. She also wouldn't put up with anyone's shit. She trusted few people but if you were in, you were family. Some bad eggs did slip in, and there was a lot of pain with a few of them. But she was like a duck, she would shake it off and keep moving. Whether it was going out to see the family with her walker or talking to them on facebook, my mom was getting up, getting out and doing. She refused to let anything, even the cancer tell her she couldn't do something.
She was also everyone's mom. No one ever called her Mrs. [last name], it was always Mrs. B or Mama B. The friends I have, I count them on one hand were her adopted kids. Whenever she would talk about her kids, she would tell someone well I have one son and 4 adopted kids. His friends, etc. etc. My mom was the most compassionate, understanding but most of all giving woman I had ever met in my life. When my best friend Josh was hurt in the riot at Vaughn Correctional, she was the only person he asked to speak to on the phone. When he came home, she was the only person his parents let talk to. He told me that he wanted to let Mama B know he was ok, or else she will worry. The love my mom had for her adopted kids and those she called friends was almost as much as the love she had for me.
Mom, its been just about 1 month since you left me, one long, hard, cruel, sad month. I had to enjoy Easter without your delicious Ham, without your smile, without your hug. Without you telling me "Happy Easter Pumpkin". Without your cooking. This weekend is Mothers Day, a Day which you famously told me was just another day and then would laugh and give me grief when I gave you a card AND a google card for Slotomania, your favorite app. Your strength and toughness is getting me through this, one day at a time. Your good humor and your trust in me is the only thing helping me to even get up out of bed in the morning and the promise I made to both you and dad, to take care of you and to make you proud are the only things pushing my legs forward.
To you, my mom. I love you so very much. I miss you so much, your adopted kids miss you, your family misses you.
Happy Mothers Day
May 9th 2019
By Olde Delaware
In just about 5 minutes time, it will have been one month since I last got to talk to my mom. My mom and I were very close, often times we blurred the lines on a typical mother and son relationship. Nothing gross or anything, just we talked in frank terms and made jokes that I doubt others would make with their parents all of the time or sometimes at any time. My mom went from being my mom to my best friend so quickly, it was a night and day change.
But first, a little background on my mom.
My dad passed away in 2003 suddenly after complications from surgery. Before he passed, I promised him that I would do everything I could to take care of my mom. My dad was a strong willed man, a veteran of war. He was old fashioned, born in 1945 but progressive enough to tell me that he doubted my mom needed to be cared for. But still, its the promise any father would make his son or daughter keep.
Take care of your mom for me.
It was a promise I took seriously for obvious reasons.
School for me was never fun, I got bullied a lot for being overweight. Living in Maryland, outside DC was my chance at a real fresh start and I took it. When my mom and dad separated we moved to Southern Maryland and from 1999-2003 I lived in La Plata, MD. The town was quiet, the schools were amazing. I had finally found my place and had friends for the first time in my life. Moving back to Delaware was a kick in the gut and I know my mom hated to pull me out of an environment where I was getting hard A's and actually enjoying school, but life is like that some times. In the months that followed my dad's passing, we hadn't received his pension and her boyfriend skipped town. I took on a full time job at 15 to pay the bills while still going to school full time.
I am sure many of you out there know what that's like, Getting up at 6, going off to school, home at 2 or 3, off to work till 11pm, homework then up at 6. That was my routine 2 years. By the time I graduated HS, we had finally received my dad's pension and things were a little easier. I took a year off of school and took a full time security job for a retailer. As I was about to go back to college, my mom had her first heart attack.
The word frozen doesn't even begin to describe how I felt when I had to call 911 for the first time. My mom however, she is sitting there putting on makeup. "If I am going to the hospital I am going to look good". It made me laugh, she chuckled a bit. She is literally having this heart attack and she is making jokes.
Thats the kind of person my mom was.
My mom always knew how to bring out the best in me and push me into making a decision, often times the right one.
I had quit political games like NS for almost 2 years, my mom asked me if I still played and I said no. She pushed me to get back into them, told me that I always seemed more confident and structured when I was playing them. So for mom, I jumped back on the horse. Its safe to say I wouldn't be here in Euro or have the friends I have made through games like this without my mom's constant support.
I also wouldn't have my love of politics itself. She got me involved in my first political campaign. She worked as Campaign Manager for a Democratic Insurance Commissioner candidate in the late 90s. I got to hand out bumper stickers and buttons. She was a hardcore Democrat and it always, ALWAYS became a sticking point for her on how I turned out to be a Republican. "You always had to be the opposite of me" My mom would say. I never got the chance to tell her, but I feel like I became a Republican because my mom taught me and raised me to think differently and never be afraid to stand up for what you believe in and never be afraid to look at the other side of the coin. My mom never pushed her views on me or on anyone and because of that, I am forever grateful that my mom gave me the chance to be the human I wanted to be, rather than what she wanted to be.
Then there was her strength and toughness, my mom was easily the toughest person I have ever met in my entire life. She suffered her entire life, from scoliosis and the surgeries to correct it, all 3 of them. Arthritis, bad knees, bad neck, everything you could think of wrong with her. Yet, she got up every day and worked. She would work first at an engine company as a driver. Then as a bartender/waitress. Then a grocery store clerk, then a drug store clerk. She worked every day of her life for 50 years. She also wouldn't put up with anyone's shit. She trusted few people but if you were in, you were family. Some bad eggs did slip in, and there was a lot of pain with a few of them. But she was like a duck, she would shake it off and keep moving. Whether it was going out to see the family with her walker or talking to them on facebook, my mom was getting up, getting out and doing. She refused to let anything, even the cancer tell her she couldn't do something.
She was also everyone's mom. No one ever called her Mrs. [last name], it was always Mrs. B or Mama B. The friends I have, I count them on one hand were her adopted kids. Whenever she would talk about her kids, she would tell someone well I have one son and 4 adopted kids. His friends, etc. etc. My mom was the most compassionate, understanding but most of all giving woman I had ever met in my life. When my best friend Josh was hurt in the riot at Vaughn Correctional, she was the only person he asked to speak to on the phone. When he came home, she was the only person his parents let talk to. He told me that he wanted to let Mama B know he was ok, or else she will worry. The love my mom had for her adopted kids and those she called friends was almost as much as the love she had for me.
Mom, its been just about 1 month since you left me, one long, hard, cruel, sad month. I had to enjoy Easter without your delicious Ham, without your smile, without your hug. Without you telling me "Happy Easter Pumpkin". Without your cooking. This weekend is Mothers Day, a Day which you famously told me was just another day and then would laugh and give me grief when I gave you a card AND a google card for Slotomania, your favorite app. Your strength and toughness is getting me through this, one day at a time. Your good humor and your trust in me is the only thing helping me to even get up out of bed in the morning and the promise I made to both you and dad, to take care of you and to make you proud are the only things pushing my legs forward.
To you, my mom. I love you so very much. I miss you so much, your adopted kids miss you, your family misses you.
Happy Mothers Day
