Sunday, May 9, 2010

Moms -- A Pretty Powerful Force

Mom's are usually not associated with the word force, necessarily. When you think of mom's you think of love, tenderness, safety -- words more in tune with what is a very special relationship as a human being.

However...

Today, the word I thought about was power and force. Why? Let me tell you a little story...

So, I awoke early and headed to the office.

Yes, I work on days like Mother's Day and Christmas.

I stopped at the local grocery store to buy the paper, and that's when I had this thought.

Parked a few spaces from me, was a vintage Chevy Caprice. It was a poster car for what we want to refer as, "gangster car or cholo car" -- you get the idea. It was resting on hydraulics and mounted on superior, expensive wheels. The paint job screamed in metallic blue, and I could almost hear the base blaring, where it not empty of a driver. Limo grade tinting on the windows, and lots of chrome everywhere.

No stereotyping here...wow.

I ogled at the car for a minute, 'cause whatever it may inspire in people, it really is a remarkable makeover for a car that's not worth its weight in scrap metal otherwise. To invest thousands of dollars on a vehicle always amazes me, but alas.

So, I made my mental impressions and started for the front door of the store. In perfect unison, here comes a kid (I can say that now at my age), carrying a beautiful arrangement of white roses, complete with balloons and other items.

The kid was inked, but wearing his "Sunday's best". He was well groomed and showed no sign of anything other giddy anticipation of delivering happiness to his momma. I followed his path (visually) to the Caprice. He fired it up (optimal engine timing, by the way) and, yes, the base started to blare. He spent quite some time making sure the roses would not tip and the balloon would not pop. Then, he was off.

I walked in the store thinking of those two words -- power and force. For the sake of this story, let's assume said kid is up to no good, most of the time. One would be tempted to assume he's ready to attack on a moment's call, or maybe his business ventures are more on the dark side than not. We could assume the worse, or maybe he just likes low riders.

Whatever we judge him to be, on this morning, this kid was groomed, dressed well and ready to offer his momma the best of him, I'm sure. It wasn't 8 a.m. -- yet --, an hour foreign to kids his age, after a Saturday night. But, within minutes his momma would receive love in several forms from her son.

I felt ashamed, for one. I didn't prepare myself for my momma as well as he did. But, I had just called my momma minutes before this story, and woke her up. Wished her a happy Mother's Day for sure.

Momma's have this effect on their sons. The fiercest of men will be tamed by their mothers. I cant' recall in my lifetime any man who did not honor his mother, his lifestyle -- however dark or bright -- notwithstanding.

It was a good way to start Mother's Day. I am married to a wonderful momma. I have my momma, a sister-momma, a momma-in-law, several grandmoms, a sister-in-law momma and for those who know me personally, most of the women in my life are mommas.


Bravo, to this kid who took care of business today.

Happy Mother's Day, mums.