This picture was taken about 30 years ago…I was just emerging from my blonde bowl-cut era and preparing to embark on a new journey of Maximum Hold Hair Gel. But despite my questionable haircut preferences, I wouldn’t have traded my childhood experience for anything.
And a big part of that was my Mom. Anyone who has ever seen my Mom at a Vacation Bible School, teaching a Sunday School lesson, or even at a random playground quickly recognizes that she is a Kid Magnet. And a primary reason for this is that she is the Queen of Perfect Fun. She is not content with Vacation Bible School being “a pretty cool experience.” No, unless it is THE BEST WEEK OF YOUR LIFE, she won’t be satisfied. And that Sunday School lesson on Elijah and the Prophets of Baal? You’ll never forget it, and you’ll have your own crafted replicas of both Mount Carmel and Ahab’s chariot to help you remember the story forever! Her impossible standard for continual epic experiences is only sustainable because of supernatural Spirit-infused strength and a Michael Jordan-esque will to bless others.
So every day was pretty much an epic experience growing up with my Mom. That’s the only way she knows…so that’s all I ever knew. Perhaps I was spoiled. Perhaps I developed “Only Child Syndrome” of a rare and peculiar magnitude (whatever that means). Perhaps my childhood prepared me for a life of perpetual disillusionment with adult-ing. Maybe.
Or perhaps I experienced blissful foreshadowing of Heaven on a daily basis. Perhaps I was infused with assurance that, despite the best efforts of Mediocre Marionettes, creativity will never die. And perhaps a perpetual song of gratitude was etched into my soul along with a template for future laugh lines that have now just started to manifest in my 40th year.
I love you, Mom. You’re the Best. And the closest thing in this temporal realm to the ever-elusive Fountain of Youth is simply being with you. Happy Mother’s Day!
