Mom

In May we remember and pay tribute to our mothers. It makes sense to just think back on a couple of memories and what our moms did for us and mean to us.

My mom is an amazing 93 years old. She is still loving, sharing, passionate and full of ideas. This has been the year that she decided to put a group of her original poems and parodies together into a book. I offered to help and it has been an interesting ride. Her material is very good. She is passionate—almost to distraction and aggravation. When she is on the path of an idea, she is a pit bull. After our conversation and work sessions, I walk out of my home office and my wife looks at me with a smile. By now, I know what she’s going to say. “Sweetheart, you’re so much like your mom.” I have to look back on life to know that it makes sense that that is a wonderful compliment.

For example, Mom taught me at an early age that I was a terrible liar. She told me that everybody could see it on my face and hear it in my voice. She said that I should never try it because people would be able to tell. Now I’m not going to say that I’ve never told a little white lie, but mom scared me enough that even the thought of trying to wiggle out of a situation makes me very uncomfortable.

She also taught me some semblance of humility by telling me when I dabbled in a “shouldn’t dabble area,” it was her fault. She’d tell me, with a smile on her face, parents always made mistakes with their first child (me, oldest of four boys) and that she had really messed me up. It always made me stop. I don’t know that I understand it totally today, but it did make me think.

Mom had a lot to overcome. When she was 32 years old she contracted Polio. At first doctors told my dad that she wouldn’t survive. She did. Then they told him she would spend the rest of her life in an “Iron Lung.” She didn’t. They said she would be paralyzed for the rest of her life. She isn’t. She is still going strong. Her life experiences taught all four of us about work ethics and working through things. She always told us to be creative, work hard, think and not to listen to people who said we wouldn’t be able to do something.

She left a career that she loved in music, writing, and singing to take care of her four boys, but she never stopped performing. She would perform for the neighborhood kids. We would have a household full of friends wanting her to help plan games. When she went back to work part time teaching music, she figured out that the rhythms and beats of music might help kids learn how to read. She actually ended up helping a number of kids who were disabled, in some way, learn to read through music. It was amazing to watch.

Mom would take us on a camping trip to the beach. The fog would roll in, the wind would blow, and we would be freezing. She would say, “What an adventure! Isn’t this fun?”

As adults, with our own families, we love to see her and talk with her. She brings an energy; a love and excitement about life that renews us with every breath. She is an amazing woman.

So, to the mothers in my family—my unbelievably wonderful wife, daughter and daughters-in-law—I love you all.

To mom—you still are my inspiration. When Janet tells me I’m just like you, it is the greatest compliment I could ever receive. I think it Makes Sense.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Editor’s note:  Alive is proud to be publishing Ed’s moms book.  Laughter All The Way: Poetry, Puns, and Parodies, by Marty Baxter is available now on Amazon, and other online retailers.