A DAY WITH MOMMA 02-09-07
I spent yesterday with my mom. We cruised up US 41 into North Port, on up to Venice, making numerous stops along the way. Ma is 73, I'm 47, and who knows how many more opportunities to spend a day together we have remaining. We had one disappointment along the way. We stopped at Del Tura Golf and Country Club, the locale where MJ (my Life Partner- henceforth referred to as LP) and I will be starting golf lessons tomorrow. It is a gated community and the security guards, after determining that we didn't have a tee time, wouldn't let us in. I found it interesting since MJ and I had driven up precisely the same way and had been allowed in. I can't wait to see what the story is tomorrow when we drive up without a tee time. I just can't help feeling that skin color played a role in that rejection...but I digress…
Ma's original idea was to visit North Port because of an article I had had published on the City of North Port by the Breeze Newspapers. Knowing that there wasn't much to see in North Port, my original idea was to check out the Beaches in Englewood & Venice. MJ and I had been planning to visit the area and hadn't yet, so this would be a good reconnaissance mission. At some point, the idea morphed into an attempt to hit all the beach spots from Venice down through Englewood, but after the two beach stops and some fish n chips, Ma was ready to head home. I can't say that I objected much to that alteration in our plans. Plans are great, but being able to adjust on the fly might be even more valuable.
On our outing my dear mother and I listened to WGCU's broadcast of NPR as trees and traffic whizzed by our windows. We ate stale, salted peanuts, reminisced about old times, and remarked about new. We walked barefoot on the beach, brushing shells from beneath the sand with our toes…and we ate fish n chips with our fingers on the deck outside at Sharky's on Venice Pier. At one point we noted that we would have enjoyed the fish n chips, themselves, more had she cooked them. We also acknowledged that our sitting there in the late afternoon sunlight, with the cool breeze blowing goose bumps across our skin, wasn't about the fish n chips. It was about the experience, then sharing time, the being together of mother and son, each of whom defined the other in their being.
As we headed down I 75 back to Fort Myers, gratitude swelled within for the opportunity Ma and I were sharing. I expressed my to the cosmic forces…Ma expressed hers to God. That's slightly indicative of who we are: two being vastly different in our worldviews, values and beliefs…Yet, there were times when she would speak and I would marvel at how alike we were in essence, at how much of her comprised me…
As we rolled on into darkness, and Ma's head began to droop despite her denials of being sleepy, I continued to reflect on the experience, to ride the wave of gratitude. I thought of MJ, my beautiful MaJiC Princess, who would normally be by my side on such an outing, but had been at work instead. I thought of her contribution to the experience Ma and I were sharing. Without her, it wouldn't be. I felt the sting behind my eyes as emotions welled. Love, authentic love, whether it be a mother's or that of the person has agreed to share your earthly experience, cannot be bought nor sold, and is infinitely more valuable than the materials we are urged to pursue so relentlessly.
Ma's original idea was to visit North Port because of an article I had had published on the City of North Port by the Breeze Newspapers. Knowing that there wasn't much to see in North Port, my original idea was to check out the Beaches in Englewood & Venice. MJ and I had been planning to visit the area and hadn't yet, so this would be a good reconnaissance mission. At some point, the idea morphed into an attempt to hit all the beach spots from Venice down through Englewood, but after the two beach stops and some fish n chips, Ma was ready to head home. I can't say that I objected much to that alteration in our plans. Plans are great, but being able to adjust on the fly might be even more valuable.
On our outing my dear mother and I listened to WGCU's broadcast of NPR as trees and traffic whizzed by our windows. We ate stale, salted peanuts, reminisced about old times, and remarked about new. We walked barefoot on the beach, brushing shells from beneath the sand with our toes…and we ate fish n chips with our fingers on the deck outside at Sharky's on Venice Pier. At one point we noted that we would have enjoyed the fish n chips, themselves, more had she cooked them. We also acknowledged that our sitting there in the late afternoon sunlight, with the cool breeze blowing goose bumps across our skin, wasn't about the fish n chips. It was about the experience, then sharing time, the being together of mother and son, each of whom defined the other in their being.
As we headed down I 75 back to Fort Myers, gratitude swelled within for the opportunity Ma and I were sharing. I expressed my to the cosmic forces…Ma expressed hers to God. That's slightly indicative of who we are: two being vastly different in our worldviews, values and beliefs…Yet, there were times when she would speak and I would marvel at how alike we were in essence, at how much of her comprised me…
As we rolled on into darkness, and Ma's head began to droop despite her denials of being sleepy, I continued to reflect on the experience, to ride the wave of gratitude. I thought of MJ, my beautiful MaJiC Princess, who would normally be by my side on such an outing, but had been at work instead. I thought of her contribution to the experience Ma and I were sharing. Without her, it wouldn't be. I felt the sting behind my eyes as emotions welled. Love, authentic love, whether it be a mother's or that of the person has agreed to share your earthly experience, cannot be bought nor sold, and is infinitely more valuable than the materials we are urged to pursue so relentlessly.
2007-03-06 02:12:42 GMT
