Mother’s Day

Well, it's that time of year again, time for Mother's Day. All over the place, people are thinking of how to specially treat their Mom, Grandmother, Wife, Sister, whoever. This weekend, the State Fair Community College will have their Bring Mom to the Daum event this week. It'll be at the Daum Museum of Contemporary art from 1-3.

I hate to sound like a downer because that is not the point of my post, really, but my Mom died a few years back from cancer.  I was pretty lucky in that I got to be around and take care of her.  I'd do the morning routine with her and take her to appointments and such, and then when I went to work my Dad would usually be home to take over.  She had ovarian, lung and then brain cancer.  Of course my Mom had her humor and sweetness throughout, though.

And I thought I'd share a couple of pictures and a funny story to remember her.

When I was a kid, we'd spend a couple weeks and drive up to St Louis to hang out with my Mom's cousin, Dee Dee. But as is custom in our family we never really called our cousins "Cousin So and So", and with this one, Mom and Dee Dee were close, so we called her Aunt Dee Dee. It was truly the best thing ever to go up there when we were kids because she had a pool. Well, I loved that pool. I loved it too much.

In fact, one particular day Mom had hollered at me to come out of the pool because it was time for dinner or maybe it was just time to get out. So I said, "One last jump, Ma!" and did my thing. I was swimming to the side to the ladder, and I guess I wasn't fast enough. Mom panicked and thought I was drowning! She pulled me up by the hair, and accidentally my face hit the ladder. I chipped a tooth and to this day I have a cap on one of my front teeth because of it. It was a great guilt into getting some ice cream, I'll tell you that. And, I shared this very story with a committee once and got a small local scholarship out of it!

That's got to be one of my funniest, silly stories about Mom. Of course everyone has those, but, did your Mom ever say, "Well, I'm just one of those people I guess. I don't need to eat Alligator." Probably not. But you should reward your Mom for being awesome with a Trip to the Daum this weekend. They'll have tours, refreshments, spring flowers, and other great stuff. Check them out on the web, or give em a call at 660-530-5888. And for crying out loud, have some FUN with your Mom for Mother's Day. Make a silly memory. But I'm sure that whatever you do, it'll be great.

What are you gonna do for Mother's Day? Have you got a gift or a card? Do you have a tradition or a special occasion planned?

Toothily yours,
Behka