Happy Mother's Day 2013 to Nezzie aka Mom!

May 12, 2013
Colorado USA

You are one of a kind - the best kind!

Stepping off of The Ride for a short spell to Salute Mom!

A soldier does not sacrifice alone, for when soldiers deploy overseas, the hearts of their families travel with them. – Brigadier General James Doty

A couple of years and a few Harley road trips ago, we shared Labor Day weekend with a group of Vietnam Veterans having a reunion at a little motel we rolled into one evening in Greybull, Wyoming. We were quick to respectfully thank them for their service and they returned in kind – thanking my husband as a veteran of the end of that era. Every evening the Vets gathered in the comfortable patio area of the motel and shared as might be expected, war stories and memories and ultimately a prayer or two for long lost Veteran-friends.

On the second evening one of the Vets noted my keen interest as perhaps a bit unusual. I simply answered My Dad is a Vietnam Vet. The man caught me completely off-guard when he jumped up and gave me a huge bear-hug saying, we should be thanking you for surviving without your Dad while he served in Nam and God Bless your Mother, too. That was the first time anyone had ever acknowledged to me personally that the families of Veterans (wives, mothers, daughters, sons) pay a different set of dues in service to country. I often joke that I have paid more dues than anyone in the family if you combine the military service of both of the main men in my life.

Every year on Mother’s Day, all through my life I have dutifully and lovingly acknowledged my Mother and Grandmothers for the positive role they played in my life.

I am the product of strong-minded, strong-willed survivalist women. The beloved Grandmothers are gone now and their strong-hearted contribution to my existence is sorely missed but hardly forgotten.

My lovely Mom, a precious jewel of a woman is the proverbial heart and soul of our family. A woman of gentle nature, she is still the strongest and most resilient person I know. During the military years, especially when Dad was stationed in harm’s way - Mom is the one who held down the fort so-to-speak. No whining. No complaining. No wringing her hands and pacing. No outward evidence of stress and worry except for perhaps a slight negative shake of the head when the postman failed to bring a letter from Guam or Nam.

No, during those times my lovely Mom began channeling a fairly impressive impersonation of a first sergeant, insisting we survive by stepping up our game and carrying on. Lawns got mowed, cars got washed and waxed and repaired, the trash was carried out, birthday parties happened, holidays were celebrated, and to her everlasting credit - we did not miss a single high school football game. In the interim, under Mom's direction, we (meaning the entire family) engaged in the industry of seeing to the needs of our servicemen. The family baked cookies and cakes, gathered books and magazines, and shipped countless supplies across the seas to a destination we could only vaguely visualize. It might not have been business as usual but the business of our household and structured family life was directed toward holding it all together while Dad took care of business elsewhere.

And damn if Mom didn’t look like a million bucks doing it! I salute you Mom!

Because when the same circumstances presented in my life - I knew what was required and how to cope. I knew I could manage because Mom did - in high heels!

While my lovely Mom is a personal priority on Mother’s Day, I also try to acknowledge military Moms.

Military Wives who never donned a uniform but served on the home-front and saw to the needs of military brats,

Military Blue Star Moms of military sons and daughters who bravely serve at the whim of the powers that be,

Military Moms who wear a uniform and spend far too many hours and days away from their offspring in service of their country,

and finally,

Military Gold Star Moms who pay the ultimate price of a lifetime’s work when a military son or daughter give their all in service to this country.

In a perfect world no Mom would go without recognition today, but as we all know the world is far from perfect. I cannot imagine it, and it pains me to think it is so, but there are forgotten Moms who will not hear from living offspring on Mother’s Day for whatever unfathomable reason… and there are Moms who will spend Mother’s Day in sorrow mourning the loss of offspring lost to tragedy or illness or war.

Washington Irving wrote: A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.

This is a Salute to My Mom and a nod of respect to Moms everywhere.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!