Well, I just heard the news today
It seems my life is going to change
I closed my eyes, begin to pray
Then tears of joy stream down my face
With arms wide open under the sunlight
Welcome to this place, I’ll show you everything
With arms wide open
With arms wide open
Creed: Songwriters Scott Stapp and Mark Tremonti
If you spent 47 hours watching the NFL Draft last week like I did, take note: You have a golden opportunity to make up for that selfish indulgence this Sunday, which is Mother’s Day in case you have forgotten.
Don’t forget to pick out an appropriate card, not one with a dumb joke on it. The sing-song poetry on some of them is actually heartwarming to many ladies if it’s sincere and you haven’t been an annoying jerkweed to your mom or wife for most of the past year.
I remember once when I was married, as brief as it was, I failed to buy my wife a Mother’s Day present. When she complained about it, I told her she wasn’t my mother.
She pointed out that she the mother of our 2-year-old son and I realized I had scored quite a few jerkweed points with my odious oversight.
Live and learn, I guess.
And speaking of mothers . . .
Here at the Smith Communications family, we recently welcomed two new babies into the world.
National Account Executive Heather Harris and her husband Stuart welcomed a little boy called Memphis into the world about six months ago, and Managing Editor Josh Lurie and his wife Natalie welcomed Lola Jean to their home just last week.
Heather has some experience in the field of motherhood since she has 13-year-old Gavin already, but Josh and Natalie are new to parenting. I’m sure they’ll get the hang of it quickly barring total nervous breakdowns.
Natalie will probably do just fine, but I worry about Josh. He is not only raising a child, he still has to put up with me. And that’s just not fair to anybody. As for me, my little bundle of joy is
As for me, my little bundle of joy is 23 years old now, and I can scarcely remember his first few weeks on Earth, such was the stress and chaos of tending to a newborn. Bottles, diapers, onesies, very little sleep. But having a child made my life richer, and I became a bit less selfish, I think. My son Parker became the most important thing in my life, even more important than guitars, Cadillacs and hillbilly music.
Unfortunately, my marriage didn’t last very long. My wife then remarried and made a poor choice when she selected a new husband. But maybe she had always made poor choices when it came to picking husbands. Her choice to pick me certainly doesn’t invalidate that theory.
She passed away a couple of weeks after Parker’s 14th birthday.
He has a tattoo of the date she died on his arm. A sure way to get on his bad side is to
A sure way to get on his bad side is to make a disparaging comment about his mother.
My own father lost his mother when he was six, and he was shipped off to live with his grandparents.
His upbringing made my father extremely protective of our little family unit, and when my sister Kim Jaynes, (who works at Morgan County Elementary School and is a kind of surrogate mother to many youngsters in Morgan County for several hours a day) came along, I saw first-hand how difficult parenting could be and how much dedication my parents gave to it. But since my dad traveled a lot for his job, most of the work fell to my mom.
I don’t suppose I was much help. My father was my mother’s rock and losing him in 1993 on the day before Father’s Day shook the foundations of her life. But she remained a rock for me and my sister.
As I got older, I didn’t need to call on my mom for all that much anymore, but I never ventured too far away from the nest. I lived in other states, but I always wound up coming home at some point.
After her stroke, I spent a good deal of time with her, and I watched her trying to learn her letters again. I was reminded of how she taught me those same things when I was 5-years-old.
Last fall, my sister and I lost our mother who would have turned 89 on April 15.
So, Mother’s Day and mom’s birthday were always pretty close together. I always bought a card, sometimes flowers and my sister and her husband Christian and I took her to lunch or dinner somewhere. She never wanted to pick where, so we had to decide.
But this year, Parker and I have something in common we never had before. Neither of us need to visit the Hallmark section to pick out a Mother’s Day Card.
But I told my colleague Lynn Hobbs, the editor of Lakelife magazine, that I might buy one anyway.
I’ll just mail it to heaven.
Selah.