“If you have a mom, there is nowhere you are likely to go where a prayer has not already been.” ~ Robert Brault
I remember one night in Chicago when the weather abruptly changed and a huge storm came from the north and collided with a system coming in from the south.
The thunderstorms that resulted were of such force that it seemed as though Mother Nature had declared war on herself.
I went to bed rattled, wondering what the night might bring.
Soon I fell into a deep sleep and, in no time, was dreaming and transported thousands of miles back to my childhood basement bedroom.
~ where, as a child I had so many scary dreams
It was there I found myself calling out for mommy, my protector from all things scary.
~ where, as a child my mother was the great dragon-slayer
So it was on this stormy night in Chicago this 60-year-old man once again found himself calling for mommy — and sure enough, she came and restored peace to my troubled mind.
I remember another nightmare but this time it was the real deal.
When I was a freshman in high school the vice principal called me into his office and announced to me I was NOT being invited back for my sophomore year because of my bad behavior, bad attitude and bad grades.
I felt like a beaten dog — a badly beaten dog.
Strange as it may sound, my very first thought was for my mother. I knew my education was the most important thing to her.
I thought, now you’ve really done it, you’ve really let her down. Mom will surely disown you.
It took me two weeks to work up the nerve to tell her. So when I did, how did she react?
With unrestrained, unconditional, irrevocable — mommy love.
She put her arm around me and told me it didn’t matter where I went to school. My life would be okay and I could become anything I chose to be.
I was utterly blown away. The thing on her mind was to let me know that I’d be okay no matter where I went to school. She thought of herself — not a whit.
Her singular concern was a transformative moment for me.
When I told her I wanted to try to get back in to my school, she said she would help. Ultimately, it worked, and I was re-admitted. I went from an incorrigible, undisciplined adolescent to a reasonably respectful, hard-working student — in the blink of an eye. Such was the impact of mommy love.
I’ve learned over time needing mommy is an okay thing at any age.
The early American writer Washington Irving described mother this way:
“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 desert us; when trouble thickens 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.”
I also know that many of us didn’t get what we needed from our mothers, or maybe didn’t even have a mother. Maybe we got what we needed from someone else, or maybe we learned (are learning) to find it within ourselves. Whatever the source, we always need Mommy Power to help in banishing the boogeyman and finding the light switch.
For years I used booze to fight off fear in my life and found that the boogeyman only got larger and his visits more frequent. As a consequence I never could find peace in the storms of life. As I grew older I replaced imaginary demons with real ones, demons capable of doing real damage.
I lost touch with Mommy Power and what I’d learned as a little boy.
That the boogeyman is nothing more than a figment of my imagination. It only has power when I give it power and I have it within myself to administer my own mommy medicine by banishing fear from my life and replacing it with faith.
It was in sobriety I came to understand this early lesson all over again.
Mothers connect us with creation itself because they were there — the very instrument through which our creation happened.
That we all might tap into ever-present Mommy Power.
Just a thought…
Pat and Marsha
Copyright © 2023 Patrick J. Moriarty. All Rights Reserved.
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