I love my mom. I don’t suppose that’s a very ground-breaking or surprising thing to say, especially at this time of the year, but it’s true. My mom is a great lady.
We get along great — except when we don’t. We agree on almost everything — except the things we disagree about. She never gets on my nerves — except when she does. And because of, and in spite of, all those things, I think I’ve got the greatest mom in the world.
Until my mom got remarried when I was in fourth grade, it was just her and me against the world. I think that’s given us a special bond as mother and son that, while not unique, is fairly unusual. Don’t get me wrong, we still drive each other crazy sometimes, but I think in the back of our minds somewhere there’s still that memory of all those years when it was just us.
Things got better for us when my mom married my dad. We had a bit more stability, and there were three of us against the world, which is much better odds. But as great as finally having a dad was, it wasn’t without its challenges.
After it being just mom and me for so long, I found it hard to share her. That led to some jealousy of my father at some point — and years when Dad and I fought like two cats in a burlap sack. It drove my mom crazy. It drove all of us crazy. But we got over it … eventually.
At some point in your life, you’re going to have a shocking realisation that will change the way you look at your parents forever. As much as I hate spoilers, I’m gonna lay a little wisdom on you. You won’t believe me now, but you will someday.
The shocking realisation that you’ll have, the one that will rock your world, is that your parents are human. OK, I know that you’ve probably already realised that your parents are human on some level. But I guarantee you that someday, probably many years from now, you’ll really understand what that means.
Right now, your parents are the bosses of your whole life. They tell you when you can go out, when to go to bed, what you can eat, that you have to go to school, and a thousand other things every day. Everybody knows that the boss is always right, so your parents are always right.
But here’s the funny thing: The only people who are always right are guys like gods and Superman, and those guys aren’t human. So if you think that your parents are always right, you’re not thinking of them as human. Gods and Superman have all the power, too. That makes
them scary.
So … somebody who’s kind of scary and is always right. Sound like somebody you know? I don’t know about you, but that’s the way I saw my parents for a long time. They weren’t human.
But somewhere in my third decade of life or so, I had a sudden realisation. I really mean that. It struck me like a bolt out of the blue. I realised that my parents were human. They made mistakes. They weren’t nearly as scary as they used to be — but they’re still a bit scary.
The day that I finally understood that my parents were human like me — doing their best to make good choices; sometimes failing; sometimes succeeding — was the day that I began to see the world differently. My relationship with them hasn’t been the same since that day, and that’s not a bad thing. Because it actually got better.
So, happy Mother’s Day, Mom. You’re one of the best human beings I know.
Sean Vale
Editor
[email protected]
