MOTHER'S DAY by Kurt Young

Well, if you’ve not looked at your calendar, hopefully this will remind you that Mother’s Day is this Sunday.  Believe it or not, Mother’s Day wasn’t really created in the US at least, until 1908.  According to Wikipedia, the first instance of it recorded was in 1908 at a Methodist Church in Grafton, WV.  But now it’s official enshrined as the 2nd Sunday in May.  

And my Kids and I will be taking my wife out for a special lunch on Sunday.  But for the first time in 56 years of life, I won’t be able to celebrate for a woman I called Mom.  In 2020, totally unrelated to the pandemic, we lost my Mother In Law, Betty Holdridge.  When the worst thing you can say about a Mother in Law is that she completely took away your ability to tell a Mother In Law joke to anyone who knew her, you know you’ve got a good Mom.  

Betty was there for me from the first time, we met, a month or two into dating my wife, until the last week of her life.  She had my back, giving of every part of herself to support my wife, myself, our kids and everything we did.  When I was running for Toledo City Council, she even went door to door in her senior living apartment complex to get me votes.  

My Mother Mary Anne was a pretty amazing Mother too.  She was an unofficial single Mom about 2-3 years out of my first Fifteen years of life.  My Dad was career Navy so for a year he was in Vietnam and on multiple occasions, he was out to sea, including two stretches of six months at a time, when we lived a littel over ten hours from the nearest family member.  She actually helped me start our office with an investment of some cash, and some of the art work that decorates our office to this day.  But sadly, last year we lost her too.  

So Sunday will be my first without a Mom. But I have them in my life, including Lisa from our office who is “Little Floyd’s Mom”, and he will be little Floyd forever even if he’s in his thirties and a Dad himself and my wife.  But I will celebrate all of the Mom’s out there.  

Just remember though, Mother’s Day can be sad, for those of us who lost our Mom, for those who never had someone who acted like a Mom for them, for those who never got to be a Mom but wanted to.  Also, let’s remember those who did the job without the title.  There are many people who have stepped up for kids of all ages who needed one.  

So thanks Mama Betty and Mary Anne both for being there for me and for all the Moms out there, Happy Mother’s Day from all of us.