(I know how special this day is for all of you. I had wanted to send out a fresh message, but time just
didn’t allow. Please accept this “re-run” of a year ago. Mom, we love you!)
Forgive my nostalgia, but for the second time this month, I’m looking back over my memory bank. This time, of course, it has to do with my mother.
I hope you spend some time today with your mom. If you are blessed enough to still have her with you, I’m sure you will try to make her day special. If she has gone from this life, be sure to spend a moment to say a prayer for her — she’s watching, you know!!. Perhaps, put her picture on the table, and spend some time smiling at the woman who brought you into the world.
I thought I’d share a memory of my mother that really captures this fun, interesting and loyal woman. You may remember my earlier description of her as missing that “nurturing gene”. She trusted that her children could figure it out themselves, and then we’d sit and compare notes on “life!”
Anyway, this goes back to 1958. My mother and I had ventured into the world of Cub Scouting . . .
Are or were you a scouter? Many can claim this wonderful activity as a major part of their youth. I cannot. It was too tough for me. I wasn’t disciplined enough. I was a Cub Scout for a short while. The Order of Wolf was as far as I got. I remember liking the cookies and Kool Aid and running around at the end of meetings tackling my fellow cubs.
But the part of the meeting where I had to tie the knots, or do the craft, or master the promises – I just couldn’t do it.
I remember sitting with my mother, who, God bless her, had accepted the charge of being my DEN MOTHER the night before Wolf Badges were to be awarded. My merit badges were unearned at that point, and we frantically searched for a way to accomplish them by tomorrow’s deadline. It was a moment of desperation, which brought a great temptation.
“Well, if you tried to name all the leaves, do you think you’d eventually get them?”, asked my moth-er. “Sure I could,” I said with confidence. “And those knots, if you really tried hard, could you learn to tie them?” “You bet mom!” A checkmark was entered in the box marked “task completed.” Mom took a long puff on her cigarette…
…Suddenly, we both knew that this charade could not go on. “Tim, I don’t think I can recommend you for the badges tomorrow.” “I know mom.” On that honest note my career in scouting ended, and so too, my mother’s title of den mother. It was better for us both.
Oh mother! What fun you were. What freshness you brought to so many. I will see you in the Kingdom. And Dad too. (There are some stories there!!). Yes, I will see you . . . because Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.
Thank you mom. Happy Mother’s Day!
Fr. Tim
