Just thinking about a memory from years gone by. I was about eighteen or nineteen, still living at home and going to school. It was evening and my mom and I were sitting on the front porch. I informed her that I had plans to buy a motorcycle. Keep in mind that this was in the seventies. We were "good" people, a "church family" and in my mother's mind girls did not drive motorcycles. And in those days they were fewer and further between. Anyway, my mother looks at me and says "Oh okay. You can park it back there in the alley", gesturing to the back of the house. I was amazed at her calm reaction and was starting to think about how the back alley might be a good place to park a bike. Before I could respond, however, she spoke her next sentence: "Because that's where I'll throw all your stuff when I kick you out of the house." Message clear. No motorcycles for me while I was under her roof. Oh, I know she loved me and it was her way of protecting me from myself. Even though my mom's been gone from this earth for 18 years now, I can still sense her on that porch and I can still feel her love.
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| Mother's porch |
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| I don't believe I have a photo of my mother on our porch but here's one from a park. She and my dad were celebrating their thirtieth anniversary, I believe. |