Monday, September 10, 2012

On Her Birthday

A few weekends ago, I drove to Maine for a family/friend reunion.  Parents and kids, all adults now, hiking and swimming and eating and drinking.  A few of the parents had August birthdays and I was asked to say a few words about my mother.  As happens with parties, when the time came for speeches the focus was on the group and not individuals.  It would have been inappropriate to have everyone listen to me talk about my mom, especially given the level of sentimentality I was going for.  Anyway, I was listening to the voice memos on my phone just now and came across a recording of me practicing my spiel!  Crickets in the background as I walked along Sunday River Road talking to myself, here is what I planned to say...

When I was eighteen, I told my mother, "I'm off to College and I'm going to be a doctor."  And she said "Jake that's great - you're going to reach your full potential and someday you can take care of me."  Four years later, music degree in hand, I was a bartender and she said "Jimmy, pour me a cocktail."

There is a possibility that as I changed my mind, she lost hers.  But that's not the case.  See I don't know what it's like to watch your children in their twenties and thirties pretend to be adults and change their minds just as you probably pretended to be adults and changed your minds.  But I do know that the most supportive human being I've ever known is that woman right there.

While my father is the source of my passion and my drive, my mother is the source of my compassion and my love.  I wouldn't trade a single late night conversation with her for all the money, fame and glory in the world.  And I know I speak for Cate and Jen and dad when I simply ask on her 66th birthday: stick around; we need you.  Happy Birthday Mom.

1 comment:

  1. James, your mom IS awesome. I still remember when she let me cry over the phone because I slammed my hand in the fire door in Wilmarth after a late theater rehearsal and didn't know who else to call and you made me call her...

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