Who Knows Their Mother?

 

Mom lives 300 miles away, on the other side of a mountain pass that is treacherous to drive even now that it is a four lane highway. I make the exhausting drive a couple of times a year so that at the end of it she can assign me tasks like logging her back yard or repairing her plumbing. Typically while I am there we have to take a break so she can do one volunteer duty or another, and just as often run off to a luncheon to accept an award

I can't count the number of awards she has received in the last twenty years. Sometimes I only find out about them when I help her clean her book shelves. And even though I've seen her greet Senator Patty Murray with a hug several times, I always just thought of her as 'Mom.'

“Mom, you don't hug United States Senators!” I told her last summer after I took a picture of her embracing Murray. It never really sunk in who the woman behind all these actions was.

But yesterday, as I pulled over at a rest area on my way home to listen to a radio show on a Tri-cities ABC affiliate, I got a new perspective.

When I arrived at Mom's on Monday, she told me about the radio interview called 'Time Capsule' where she was going to talk about women portrayed on stamps. Mom is an avid, long time stamp collector, so it seemed like a natural and simple task for her to talk about it for a few minutes. On Tuesday, a radio station contact called to verify that she would be there. I went through Mom's stamp books and made a cheat sheet list for her.

Thursday morning arrived. She drove off to the radio station. I packed my stuff in the car and headed home, which is why I was at a rest area, waiting for a radio show.

Although Mom was prepared for a segment about stamps, apparently no one had told the hosts. They didn't even mention the word stamps as they asked her questions about women in history. Mom didn't miss a beat in answering their questions. Her voice was perfect for the radio, and her demeanor was casual, yet professional, and she sounded real smart.

That was Mom? My Mom? The one who refuses to follow my instructions when I tell her what to do? I guess Patty Murray should be proud to be hugged by her.

Nancy Sherer

 

 


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