OK - I'm...feeling better since I got that off my chest.
My mom was the baby of her family and the only girl. To hear her surviving older brother, my Uncle Rodger, tell it - she got away with plenty as a kid. I can imagine that my grandparents might have spoiled their baby girl a bit. But I don't think she's been spoiled much since leaving her parent's home over 46 years ago. She doesn't act like a spoiled little girl - so whatever she got away with earlier in life hasn't seemed to trinkle down** to the present day.
[My mom was about 5 years old when this picture was taken with her father's mother, Grandma Knight.]
My mom was an ath-a-lete in high school. That stuff must skip a generation - since I grew up with the eye-t0-hand coordination of a drunken giraffe.*** [There's really no need to point out that my younger brother had plenty of athletic talent, thank-you-very-much!] Mom lettered in four different sports (basketball, floor hockey, swimming and tennis) as the photo at right attests. One of my Mom's uncles was a news photographer and got a number of great shots - some of which made it into the paper. And to think - my entry into the world was only a few short years away.
[The photo at left shows my Mom, Uncle Rodger, my Grandma, and my Aunt Diane (the wife of Mom's oldest brother, Bill, who died in a car accident before I was born).]
Other than my late-blooming athleticism (I'm still waiting for it), I share several different traits with my Mom.
Including:
- We're both quite loud (although I'm louder than she is)
- We both have a strong faith in God and are active members in our churches
- We like to golf
- Neither of us likes to talk on the phone that much
(I have a higher tolerance than Mom)
Because Mom is working tomorrow (I thought she had retired!), I took her out to dinner tonight for Mother's Day. We had a fine time chatting - and didn't get on each other's nerves even once! She wants all of her children to get together sometime this fall - and I said I would do whatever she wanted. We talked about her work for the Census Bureau and a Pickleball tournament**** she will compete in soon. She's still an aggressive competitor.
(Here's part of a conversation from tonight between me and my Mom.)
Styro: "So if you're playing in two-man teams, do you play one person up and one person back, like in tennis?"
Mom: "No. We mostly play up close to the net."
Styro: "And do you lob shots much to get behind the other team."
Mom: "No, I'm not very good at lobbing."
I know my Mom pretty well. I only had to think for a couple seconds.
Styro: "So, you mostly try to hit shots hard right at people so they can't return them."
It wasn't a question.
Mom: "Yep. In your face, baby!"
That's my Mom alright - and I love her.
Take care.
* Thanks to Suzzy Roche for the title.
** That's the way I both wrote and recorded it - so that's the way it stays. "Trickling" is for those without imagination.
*** The fact that this link exists is nearly conclusive proof that you can find anything on the Internet.
**** I'll bet you didn't even realize that there was a USA Pickleball Association!
3 comments:
My Mother-In-Law: The terror of the senior center.
And Holy Crow, I didn't realize your mom had lettered in four sports AS A SOPHOMORE. That somehow makes it a little more amazing.
As Jim Price would say: "That's strong!"
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