Happy Mother's Day

MANY MOTHER'S REMEMBER WHEN:

-Mom was at home when the kids got home from school;

-when nobody owned a purebred dog;

-when a quarter was a decent allowance, and another quarter a huge bonus;

-when you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny;

-when all of your male teachers wore neckties and female teachers had their hair done and wore high heels;

-when you got your windshield cleaned, oil checked and gas pumped without asking, all for free, every time, and you didn't pay for air, and you got trading stamps to boot.

-When it was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents;

-when the worst thing you could do at school was smoke in the bathrooms, flunk a test or chew gum;

-when a '57 Chevy was everyone's dream car, to cruise, peel out, lay rubber or watch submarine races; and people went steady and girls wore a class ring wrapped with an inch of yarn so it would fit her finger.

-And no one ever asked where the car keys were because they were always in the car, in the ignition, and the doors were never locked.

-And you got in big trouble if you accidentally locked the doors at home, since no one ever had a key.

-Remember lying on your back on the grass with your friends and saying things like "That cloud looks like a..."

-Remember jumping waves at the ocean (Gulf) for hours in that cold water; and playing baseball with no adults to help kids with the rules of the game because baseball was not a psychological group learning experience, it was a game.

-Remember when stuff from the store came without safety caps and hermetic seals because no one had yet tried to poison a perfect stranger.

-And with all our progress, don't you wish, just once, you could slip back in time and savor the slower pace and share it with the children of today.

-Remember when being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited a misbehaving student at home. Basically, we were in fear for our lives, but it wasn't because of drive by shootings, drugs, or gangs, etc. Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! But we all survived because their love was greater than the threat.

-Go back with me for a minute.... Before the Internet or the MAC... before semiautomatics and crack ... before SEGA or Super Nintendo... Way back....

I'm talking about hide and go seek at dusk, red ight, green light, kick the can, playing kickball & dodgeball until your porch light came on ...

and mother may I?, red rover, hula hoops, roller skating to music, running through the sprinkler...

-And catching lightning bugs in a jar; Christmas morning; your first day of school; bedtime prayers and goodnight kisses; climbing trees; getting an ice cream off the ice cream truck; a million mosquito bites and sticky fingers; jumping on the bed; pillow fights; running till you were out of breath; laughing so hard your stomach hurt; being tired from playing; your first crush... remember that?

-I'm not finished yet.... Kool-aid was the drink of summer; toting your friends on your handle bars; wearing your new shoes on the first day of school and class field trips.

-Didn't that feel good, just to go back and say, "Yeah, I remember that!

-There's nothing like the good old days." -They were good then, and they're good now when we think about them.

Share some of these thoughts with a friend who can relate, then share it with someone that missed out on them.

-I want to go back to the time when... Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo" and mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "do it over!"

-"Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest; money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in "Monopoly;" catching fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening; and it wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends. Being old referred to anyone over 20, and the worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was cooties.

-Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better; it was a big deal to finally be tall enough to ride the "big people" rides at the amusement park; getting a foot of snow was a dream come true; abilities were discovered because of a "double-dog-dare;" Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for giggles; the worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team; water balloons were the ultimate weapon; and older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors.

-If you can remember most or all of these, then you have LIVED!!!!

-Pass this on to anyone who may need a break from their "grown up" life.

-Pass this on to a Mom, for through it all, she was there...

-I DOUBLE DOG DARE YA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

~ Shirelles ~
Mama Said There'll Be Days Like This

Mama said there'll be days like this
There'll be days like this, Mama said
(Mama said, Mama said)

Mama said there'll be days like this
There'll be days like this, my Mama said
(Mama said, Mama said)

I went walkin' the other day, yeah
Everything was goin' fine
I met a little boy named Billy-Joe
And then I almost lost my mind

Mama said there'll be days like this
There'll be days like this, my Mama said
(Mama said, Mama said)
Mama said there'll be days like this
There'll be days like this, my Mama said

My eyes were wide open
But all that I could see, yeah
The chapel bells were tollin'
For everybody but me
But I don't worry 'cause

Mama said there'll be days like this
There'll be days like this, my Mama said
(Mama said, Mama said)
Mama said there'll be days like this
There'll be days like this, my Mama said

And then she said
Someone would look at me
Like I'm lookin' at you
One day
Then I might find
I don't want you any old way

So, I don't worry, 'cause
Mama said there'll be days like this
There'll be days like this, my Mama said
(Mama said, Mama said)

Mama said there'll be days like this
There'll be days like this, my Mama said
(Mama said, Mama said)

Don't worry,
(Mama said, Mama said)

Don't worry now
(Mama said, Mama said)

Mama said there'll be days like this
There'll be days like this, Mama said

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This is for all the mothers who have sat up all night with sick toddlers in their arms, wiping up barf laced with Oscar Mayer wieners and cherry Kool-Aid saying, "It's OK honey, Mommy's here."

Who walk around the house all night with their babies when they keep crying and won't stop.

This is for all the mothers who show up at work with spit-up in their hair and milk stains on their blouses and diapers in their purse.

For all the mothers who run carpools and make cookies and sew Halloween costumes.

This is for the mothers who gave birth to babies they'll never see. And the mothers who took those babies and gave them homes.

This is for all the mothers who froze their buns off on metal bleachers at football or soccer games on Friday night instead of watching from cars, so that when their kids asked, "Did you see me?" they could say, "Of course, I wouldn't have missed it for the world," and mean it.

This is for all the mothers who yell at their kids in the grocery store and swat their behinds in despair when they stomp their feet like a tired 2-year old who wants ice cream before dinner.

This is for all the mothers who sat down with their children and explained all about making babies.

For all the mothers who read their child's favorite book twice a night for a year. And then read it again. "Just one more time."

This is for all the mothers who taught their children to tie their shoelaces before they started school.

This is for all the mothers who teach their sons to cook and their daughters to sink a jump shot.

This is for all mothers whose heads turn automatically when a little voice calls "Mom?" in a crowd, even though they know their own off spring are at home.

This is for all the mothers who sent their kids to school with stomach aches, assuring them they'd be just FINE once they got there, only to get calls from the school nurse an hour later asking them to please pick them up. Right away.

For all the mothers who bite their lips sometimes until they bleed - when their 14 year olds dye their hair green.

What makes a good Mother anyway?

Is it patience?

Compassion?

Broad hips?

The ability to nurse a baby, cook dinner, and sew a button on a shirt, all at the same time?

Or is it heart?

Is it the ache you feel when you watch your son or daughter disappear down the street, walking to school alone for the very first time?

The jolt that takes you from sleep to dread, from bed to crib at 2 A.M. to put your hand on the back of a sleeping baby?

The need to flee from wherever you are and hug your child when you hear news of a fire, a car accident, a child dying?

For all the mothers of the victims of all the school shootings, and the mothers of those who did the shooting.

For the mothers of the survivors, and the mothers who sat in front of their TVs in horror, hugging their child who just came home from school, safely.

This is for mothers who put pinwheels and teddy bears on their children's graves.

This is for young mothers stumbling through diaper changes and sleep deprivation.

And mature mothers learning to let go.

For working mothers and stay-at-home mothers.

Single mothers and married mothers.

Mothers with money, mothers without.

This is for each of you!

Happy Mother's Day!