Yeah, one day late. That’s really how I operate. I spent yesterday thinking a lot about my late mother, who passed away in 1990. She was, in many ways, the driving influence of my life. And I mean that in both a good and a bad way. I rebelled against her tremendously, yet there is no question I am more like her than I am my kind, gentle father.
Kind? Gentle? Not two words often used to describe me. My dad had everything to do with my love for sports and, especially, the St. Louis Cardinals. He was such a great guy and he could do anything. I have written about my father quite a bit in my years at The Eagle, but not so much about my mom. It was a complicated relationship, as many mother-son relationships are. We spent a lot of time at odds. There were aspects to her personality that repelled me, honestly. Yet I am so much like her. I have her personality _ the good in her personality. And probably some of the bad, if I’m being completely honest with myself. I don’t like being completely honest with myself, really. I love lying to myself; and find that I often believe my own lies.
Anyway, I’m not going into great detail about my relationship with my mom. Frankly, that would be kind of weird to do on a blog, even though I know some people use these blogs to pour our their souls. Believe me, I’ve poured out my soul concerning my mother to every therapist in Wichita. That’s just a joke. Really.
I’m thankful for my mom’s wit and humor and intelligence. She finished only the eighth grade, but she was a voracious reader and she gained an incredible amount of knowledge from all of that reading. There were many things about my mother I respected. She could entertain a room full of people and have them all laughing hysterically. I was amazed by her ability to be laugh-outloud funny. And she was so good to my son, Jeff, an absolutely incredible grandmother.
The good definitely outweighed the bad and my mother is, without a doubt, the most influential person in my life. So, a Mother’s Day doesn’t pass without me thinking about her. And thinking about her a lot.