Reflections

While compiling my videos for this evening's Friday Nite Retro feauture, I ran across this video. Okay. . .I heard it earlier today on XM channel 9, but I DID look it up while I was researching FNR. This song tugs at my heart. . .It came out in 1991, the same year my wife and I began dating, and was immediately "special" to her because it made her think of her grandma:



I lost my mom 10 years later, two months to the day after my 37th birthday, and 3 weeks before 9/11. My oldest daughter Sam, who just turned 7 last week, was 18 months old. Her little sister, Sabrina (5), wouldn't arrive until October 6th of that year. Mom had it in her mind that she was going to hang on long enough to meet Sabrina before she left us. And indeed, if anyone could fend off their own demise at will to a later date, it woulda been Mom. But, after an entire lifetime of fighting off and winning against various cancers, Mom finally lost one on August 22, 2001.

I often think about how busy we are as adults. With work, and hobbies, and worries. . . always consumed by our schedules. And I think about the many times my phone would ring, at home or work, with that familiar intro "Hi,it's Mom". I have videos, I have audio recordings. . .they will never come close to matching the memory of her voice on the phone. . .How often was I in a rush to complete something that I didn't fully appreciate those calls? I still react to phone calls from loved ones the same way today, although that field has narrowed to include just my wife and kids. . .I must try to refocus on what REALLY matters to me. That's what Mom would have done.

Oh, and I "get" the above song now. . .(wiping tears from my eyes). . .Thank you, Mom, for teaching me the things that really matter. Please help me to remember them; especially when I am busy "living". . .