Mom is my co-pilot
As many of you know, May 10th is Día de las Madres in Mexico. I’m celebrating later today with my mom and sister. I won’t say how since it’s a surprise for her and she may be reading this.
I’ve been trying to write something about how much I love and admire my mother, how wondeful she is and how much she simply rocks. The words aren’t quite coming to me, so I’ll just tell a story about her from my “little life.”
When I was in first grade, I talked a lot in class. My teacher, Mrs. Flamenbaum, complained about my chatterbox-ness to my mom during a parent-teacher conference. Rather than tell Mrs. Flamenbaum that she’d talk to me about talking in class, she defended me. She told Mrs. Flamenbaum in an indignant tone (well, that’s how I play it out in my head), “Cindy only talks a lot in class because she finishes her work early. It’s too easy for her. She talks because she’s bored.”
I really don’t know what happened after that. I didn’t hear about the conference until years later. I laughed when my mom told me she had defended me even though I was probably just being a brat. It’s nice to know my mom will always have my back.
La pregunta: Why does your mom rock? Amusing anecdotes appreciated.
Because she has devoted 35 years of her life to me and 33 to my sister putting nothing and no one else before us.
I love that story!
Feliz dia de las madres to your mom!
There are lots of reasons that my mom rocks, but what I’m going to share was provoked by your picture. My mom rocks because even when we were dirt poor, she always set aside money for a swimming pool for the summer and a trip to Western Playland, the amusement park in El Chuco, for my birthday.
I am a lurker on your blog Cindylu…but your story of your mom defending you reminded me of a similar story with my mom. When I was a teenager I thought I was a riot grrl and shaved my head. One day my mom reluctantly drove me to get a sub sandwich after a long shift at Wendy’s. She waited in the car while I went in the shop. I totally had a 80s/John Hughes/outcast moment when some blonde volleyball players started calling me “dyke” and other original and clever names. The sandwich maker joined in and I left in disgust. When I got back to the car, my mom asked, “Where’s the bag with the sandwich in it?” I told her what happened and she was in the shop practically before I finished my tale of woe. I didn’t expect sympathy because she had NOT been happy when I shaved my head. I watched her, she sort of chatted up the mean girls. They were more than happy to tell her all about volleyball camp! She got them to trust her, and then gave them and the sandwich-maker a lecture about what are and are not acceptable ways to treat other people. I think she may have been more annoyed with me and the wasted trip, but I still have never felt more loved. Thanks for reminding me!
What can I say about Angie? She rocks because she’s fearless, and brilliant, and accomplished, and a total bitch sometimes, and she is absolutely the most hardcore person I know (she spent like a month on a craptastic boat to come over from Vietnam when she was 13). For all the fighting we do (and it’s a lot because we’re more alike than either of us cares to admit), I am always well aware of one thing…that woman loves the hell out of me. Even though I’m 27, with a husband and children of my own, I can still call her at any time and she’ll drop everything to come running when I need her…even if it’s just to make me coconut sticky rice or listen to me whine about having a cold. That’s kind of awesome.
My mother rocks because she is the glue that holds our family together.
rarely does she get a thank you or hug for the stuff she provided and does without a hitch.
Even when times are rough or things are shakey, she composes herself. She never shows signs of distress. Although, I feel she cries in solitude sometimes. Maybe because she yearns for minutes, hours, or days where she could be free for once and do something she’d like. But she continues to fulfill and outshine her role as mother and caregiver to all of us. dad, brother,sister. and Me…
I always forget the 10th is mother’s day in mexico.
but i’ll make sure to let mom know i love her a great deal on sunday
Great story!!! My mom rocks, because she worked to provide us what she didn’t have.
Feliz dia de las madres to your mommy !!! she sounds like a wonderful person and very loved as well…
ummm.. my mommy isnt just great cause of the love she showered us with, but because of the tremendous amount of love and care she had for her own mother. The last decade of my mama Lala’s life, my mother spent traveliing back and forth to mexico and caring for her and my abuelo. The determination and fearlessness she had to travel by herself with suitcases filled with things for my grandparents and only a few pieces of her wardrobe. one time she even took a wheelchair on the wonderlful greyhound. Yeah she’s crazy too, but that just makes her even more endearing. I can go on and on about my ma’ cause it’s an endless admiration and love that keeps growing everyday i’m blessed to be in her company.
my mom’s awesome cause she’s on flickr and myspace (though she’s secretive about her myspace profile–i need to figure that out), and has recently figured out text messaging by phone so that the teenage girls she’s mentoring can reach her even when they’re in situations where they can’t talk.
Mi Mom is everything to me. Nurturer, protector, discipliner and forgiver. She raised me alone, doing the job of both Mother and Father. She instilled in me the love of learning…never telling me she went to segregated schools in Califas.
She stood up to me, a big teenage boy going out of the house wearing a bandana for the first time when I thought I was going to be a Vato (VML locos!). I was trying to be a man, but she reminded me I still had some growing up to do. She put me in my place, and later told me why she did it.
I’m middle-aged now, but she still calls me Mijo. Even better, she calls my Kids Mijo and Mija. She laughs and smiles when she sees her Grandchildren. I cherish the fact that my Children know her…and that she loves them.
God Bless all the worlds Mothers.
I just left my mami at the airport…When she visits, time goes too fast. Every time I see her she is even more graceful and beautiful than the last.