Mom and Dad

On New Year's Day, I had the opportunity to spend some time with my mom. She sat across from me and enjoyed her meal. She reminded me of a beaver that floats on their back snacking on fish and basking in the sun, except the sun was her son and the carefree approach was the blessing that time together has become. I looked over at her and smiled; amazing, she is truly amazing. There are times when I don't always think that despite my knowing it.

I find myself disappointed with her sometimes. She's said for me to reach for the stars, to go to new heights, to plunge into that reserve that I've neglected called determination and ride it to a new life. I've not done that to the extent I know I'm capable of. For every failure I blamed on her, or my father, I realized that they've already equipped me with the tools to succeed - should they be at fault when those tools aren't implemented.

As I walked to my car after our meal, I saw a young man with a shaved head, tattoos, a tank top and ear rings sitting on the curb underneath a small tree. What I heard coming from his mouth were utterances of a broken heart. His appearance did little to mask the transparency of the hurt that was spilling out of his mouth like a cold beer poured too fast. He sat there and said, "My parents aren't shit. I can't stand them." At the same time, I saw my mom getting into her car. Before she sat down she smiled so hard as to get her ears wet. I looked at the young man and then I looked back at her. I thought, I could never say that about my mom or my dad and mean it, I know they love me. I wished for a brief moment that I could trade places with the young man bleeding his heart out on his phone call. I wanted him to know what it is like to know you're loved and more especially to realize who loves him - mom and dad!