I know I talk about her a lot here, but my gosh I can't stop myself. I am sure Freud would have a field day with me :).
I mean she called me today at 5:50 AM. She knows I have the same sleep issues she does and often I am just awake in the early AM with nothing to do.
No emergency, nothing wrong, she just wanted to talk about the St. Louis Cardinals starting pitching. Let me say that again my mom called me at 6 AM to talk sports. As a huge sports fan that qualifies her as "Mom Of The Year" in my book.
But below the fold something "Teacherken" wrote today got me thinking about why she is such a great lady.
As a kid my dad's parents never liked my mother. Heck it was so out in the open as a kid, and I was a total asshole as a kid, I would exploit this dynamic to get things I wanted. Play one off the other. Yes at 10 I was doing stuff like that.
I never understood whey they didn't like her.
She was educated. Attractive. Heck she worked two jobs for years as my father finished his PhD in the 60s. Not sure that was very common back then, the women bring in the paycheck. My favorite story while doing all this, my dad couldn't type. So she typed out his Disteration, 867 pages.
But my dad's parents never liked her.
After my grandmother had passed away my grandfather had a stroke. Needed 24/7 care. I like to think I am a "big" person and somebody that needed help, well I'd help them. But if my mom would have looked at him and told him to fuck off I would understand and maybe even clap.
My mom didn't blink an eye and took over his care. I mean literally 24/7 care. Care for a man that was disrespectful to her for decades. I never heard her complain for a second. Didn't bitch and moan.
It would be many, many years later I'd learn what I think was the problem with her and my dad's parents.
I was at my other grandfathers funeral a few years ago. 93 years young. I went out to have a smoke and somebody I'd never met before said to me, "your mom's first husband was an asshole." I was like come again. I did not know as a 40 year old adult my mom had been married before.
And then it all clicked for me. My mom had been married before. She wasn't "perfect" for my other grandparents and therefore their son. She was "broken."
But I literally don't think there is a person on this earth my dad should have married other than my mom. She is a rock star.
Now a few pics. My mom and dad on their first date:
That was in a '57 Ford Thunderbird. My father, a few years ago, tracked it down and bought it. Gave it to my mom as a present. I think he likes it a little more then she does, but the meaning, well priceless.
Oh and my mom today: