Momma's Boy!

"When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child."

I wonder if every mother thinks the way I do.

When I was in my youth, I heard this story from my best friend's father whom I highly admire. The story has stuck with me since. Here's a quick version of the story.

He spoke of how he would drop off his kids each morning to school. They'd pull up to school, the kids would give him a hug and kiss to the cheek say their "I love yous" and they were off. As the years passed, he started to notice a change with his oldest son as he got older, the morning kiss became more of the father kissing his son's forehead and soon turned to a quick, "goodbye dad"...no kiss, no hug. The father was saddened, but knew his son was growing up and of course there are his son's friends who may be watching too, so he understood. From that point on, if ever he was with his son in front of his friends whether it was at school or home, this father was sure to keep his cool and not embarrass his boy.

Well, here I am...dropping my kids off each morning and starting to notice the same as this story the father shared. Beanie is in the 3rd grade and still loves to give her momma the kisses and hugs, the "I love yous" and runs to her friends...still, she'll turn around and wave at me again 'cause she knows I'm watching. How I love that! Then there's Ala who's now in the 5th grade, rushin' to get out of the car to be with his friends, as I remind him that I love him and get the mumbled, "you too." Hey, I admit, I'll take whatever I can still get! It makes me a bit sad. I have a hard time with it, but like I learned, it comes with the kids growing up and I need to understand it.

Today, on our way to school, Ala remembered he'd forgotten a book report at home. We were already running late, so I told him I'd drop them off first, then run home to pick up his report and return it. I did just that. I got to the school office and the secretary told me I could take Ala's book report to his class. As I walked down the hallway towards his classroom, the thoughts of seeing my son to hand him his report came to mind. I thought about how I'd say goodbye to him. Weird, I know...I really don't think any other parent worries about silly things like this, but I had to prep myself! I thought that maybe his teacher would just come to the door, then I could just wave at Ala and hand his teacher the report. Then I thought, what if Ala comes to the door to grab the report, I need to prep myself to just hand him his report, smile and say somethin' like, "there you go buddy!" then I am to walk away....no hugs, just keep it cool and don't make my son feel awkward.

I get to his classroom door and it's open. I spot Ala right away, but he's busily working. A kid sitting in the back recognizes me and yells, "Hey Ala! It's your mom!" Okay, so I know Ala's probably already humiliated that this kid says it out loud...I totally feel like the WHOLE class has turned their heads to watch him as he walks to the door. My heart feels like it's beating so hard at this moment! Ala comes to the door and just as I planned, I hand him his report saying, "There you go bud!" then I smile at him, smile at the kids staring at us, then I turn around to walk away. Just as I'm about to give myself props for keepin' my cool, I hear my son's voice, "Mom!" I turned around to look at him...he has his arms open and gives me a hug AND a kiss to the cheek then he says, "Thanks so much mom!" Automatically, I said, "Love you son!" He says, "Love you too mom!" As I turn to walk away, I can hear the same kid who yelled out my arrival mimic Ala saying in a teasing tone, "Love you too mommy!" I hear kids laughing then I hear my son say, "What? That's my mom!"

Driving to work I thought about this whole episode. *tears* Totally a heart-melting moment for me! Ala wasn't embarrassed at all of his momma...he actually sounded quite proud! The stressing work day didn't seem to phase me ONE BIT today! =) That's my boy! Momma's boy!