Today I took my middle son, Christopher, to the airport to catch a flight back to New York, where he is staying for about four weeks. He had been home for a weekend visit to attend his Grandma’s 90th birthday party.
I had a meeting at work at 2:30 so had about an hour to fill between. I decided to shop for one hour, and only one hour. I set the timer on my phone so I would not get carried away and lose track of time, which has indeed occurred.
I stopped at a big outlet store, known for nice clothing that may have been an overstock item or last season’s style or have a small tear in a seam that can be easily repaired. The prices can be quite amazing.
Today, all black, white and navy pants were $1.99. Yep, it’s true. I bought two pair of white Gap jeans and two pair of black, skinny ankle length Banana Republic pants. All four pair for $8.00. Great for summer.
While I was in the dressing room, making sure the pants fit (there are no returns), I overhead two sisters trying on clothes. They were asking each other’s opinions on different pieces. And they were very honest with each other. I heard one say “No, don’t get that dress. It makes you look fat.” The other called her a name then they continued chatting back and forth.
I head one of them say “I really like this blouse, but look at this.” The other one replied “Oh, yep, I see that.” The first one then said “Take a picture of it and text it to Mom. Ask her if she can get that stain out.”
That made me smile. I do not have daughters, I have three sons. But I can imagine this scenario happening if I had daughters.
Moms know things. When my mama was younger, I remember calling her to ask a question about cooking or how to hem a skirt or if I had measles as a child.
Moms also know how to find things that no one else can find. I will empty every drawer and every closet and every box to find something for one of my children.
Moms know how to gently rub a child’s back as he vomits. We give sympathetic “Oh honeys” and mean it every single time. I remember my mama doing this for me.
Moms know how to help with science projects at 11:00 p.m. Moms know how to soothe a hurting child, whether that child is five or 25.
Moms are not super stars. Moms do not have super powers. Moms simply have an innate sense of helping their kids find answers to their questions, come hell or high water. And we will search the ends of the earth to find that answer.
We will go through the fire. We will stay up all night. We will fight the fiercest opponents.
We can even tell how to get a stain out of an item of clothing when we are not present to actually look at it.
Come to think of it, maybe we do have super powers.