Lessons Learned

Of all the things I could have taught my children, the one I think is most important definitely stuck: No gift is more precious than time. My middle son is the only one who lives nearby, and honestly I thought he would be too worn out after a week on the road with his band to do anything for Mother's Day. But yesterday when he returned my car, he and his girlfriend asked what I wanted to do. At first I said I'd like to go to an Italian restaurant right up the road, but later I thought I should have chosen something other than eating. The weather has been beautiful for the past few weeks, so I decided that if it was a nice day, I'd see if they wanted to go to the beach -- and not just any beach, but my favorite drive-on beach. The sky couldn't have been clearer this morning, so I shot them a text asking what they thought about that. They were excited, so while I waited for them to get here I loaded the beach chairs and towels into the car and got my swimsuit on.

In the meantime, my youngest son called to wish me a Happy Mother's Day. He caught me up on what's new in his life -- mostly school -- and asked what I was up to this weekend. We had a nice long talk and ended as we always do: "I love you; talk to you soon." Every conversation I have with my kids ends this way for two reasons. My mother never told me she loved me (and I'm not crying about it, just saying that it made me think about always telling my kids), and you never know what could happen. What if the one time I (or they) didn't say it, something awful happened? It would be awful.

We had a wonderful time at the beach, and a nice Italian dinner at a different place, one that was in the middle of nowhere but turned out to be very good. As we headed home I checked my email and saw that my oldest son had posted something to Facebook. All I could see was his comment, which I'll include below with the link, and it was so crazy I couldn't figure out what he had posted. (I don't do Facebook on my phone, so I couldn't see it until I got home.) It was funny and touching at the same time, and I replied that I was glad he'd never called me from the penitentiary. (Having a sense of humor is something my kids and I share too. I love the question mark after "crack fiend".) I know he'll call tonight, but I'll leave you with what he left me. Enjoy, and Happy Mother's Day.

"While you're not necessarily a "black queen", nor have you ever been a "crack fiend"(?), here's this.... Happy Mother's Day from me & the gals!!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byyWQEYzS2A