Ode to My Mother

Two Stories

ONE

I’m a kid, maybe 8 years old. We are driving home from some place I can’t recall. We are in a brown car with a wide, bench front seat.

I’m next to my mom, enjoying the warmth of the heater because it’s cold outside.

It’s raining, but starting to clear.

Our route is a long and winding road, so of course, true to form, my mom is singing that Beatles song. I’m still young enough that I still think she is funny.

I’m looking out the windows at houses and mailboxes when I spot a rainbow.

It looks like magic and I beg my mom to drive until we find the end of it.

The end of the rainbow. She said yes.

I don’t know how long we drove around looking for that elusive spot but I do remember running out of gas and calling my dad for rescue.

TWO

When my brother and I were younger, every now and then my mom would gather us up, tell us to put our shoes on and get in the car.

While driving, we would ask where we were going and she would say, “I don’t know! I’m under the power of the magnetic force! I wonder where it will take us!”

Hint: It usually involved ice cream.

I could write a list about my favorite things about my mom. (Funny, patient, creative, diplomatic, hard working, independent, etc.) But I think those two stories paint a picture of what it was like to grow up as her daughter.

She loved us and I always felt that she liked us too.

She wanted to be with us.

She fed my curiosities and let me be me.

Recently, I was driving in the car with my 14 year old son. The radio was on and I was singing into my thumb as though it was a microphone, just as my mom used to do. At a certain point in the song, I offered my thumb to my son so he could join in the powerful part of the chorus.

He looked at me, stone-faced and gave me an award winning eye roll.

It was then that I had a flash back of my own mom… so annoying to my teen self… offering up her thumb to me so I could join her singing some Elton John song.

It made me laugh aloud. I told my son, “You think I am so lame right now! I know because I used to be in your place.”

The older I get, the more I notice my mother’s words leaving my mouth.

I see her hands when I look at my own.

So many similarities.

And although my teenager might find me less than cool, I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather grow up to be.

Originally published at findmeaning.net on May 9, 2015.