A Mama's Most Memorable Moments

It just hit me that my only child will be graduating from high school in less than two weeks.  The day has finally come where there will be no more parent/teacher conferences, no more boring PTA meetings, no more hours of Black History programs and Easter speeches, no more homework patrol, no more late night nursing-a-sick-child back to health, no more curfew control, no more room cleaning raids, no more restrictions, and no more whippings.

However, I realize that I am going to miss every single moment of raising a child!  My baby boy is actually grown up!  This past Mother’s Day I was sitting in the park thinking about my most memorable moments as a mother.  Here are a few a my favorite memories below:

"Trauma of the Flies"

My son and I traveled to Africa when he was 5 years old.  After visiting the country for about two weeks our delegation wrapped up our program and prepared to return home.  As a going away gift, our host family organized a huge crab boil cook-out in the village.  However, during the cookout my son and I noticed that there was an abundance of flies everywhere around the crab pots.  The flies landed on the pots, on the crabs, on peoples faces, and on the serving plates. Flies were EVERYWHERE!!!! 

My son (who hates bugs) sat quietly at the table while our freshly boiled crabs were being served and handed to us on plates.  After about 10 minutes of observation my son couldn’t take it anymore.  He yelled out and startled the crowd; this caused everyone in our vicinity to stop and look in our direction.  My son then shouted out at the top of his lungs. “Mommy, Mommy what is wrong with THESE people??? THE FLIES, THE FLIES are EVERYWHERE? Can’t they see THEM?  I just can’t take it anymore.  I don’t want any party.  I want to go home NOW where we don’t EAT flies!” This was one of my most embarrassing moments...but VERY funny!

"The Exposed Breast Mystery"

I breastfed my baby until he was 15 months.  At 15 months I began to ween him so I only breastfed him once each evening right before bed. I had completely stopped breastfeeding him throughout the night although he still slept in the bed with me. I soon noticed that I would wake up in the morning and always find my right breast outside of my gown. During this time I was very surprised about the change in his eating pattern in the mornings. I realized that he wasn’t hungry as usual after he woke up. Ironically, I woke up one night and caught the little rascal! I now realized that he was stealing a midnight nursing  while I was dead asleep. I was too OUTDONE! I started sleeping in t-shirts and pajamas from that day forward.

"The Weekend Excursion"

Like most teens, my son went through a rebellious stage around the age of 14.  On Thanksgiving a few years ago, I put my son on a greyhound bus to visit his Dad in Alabama.  Later that evening I discovered that he never arrived.  The next 48 hours were the worst hours of my life!!  I felt like I was in hell.   I was convinced that someone had stolen my precious teenage son and hurt him because he had never been out-of-place up until that point.  After viewing hours and hours of video at the Greyhound bus station, reporting an Amber Alert, and activating a personal search team of my friends for my son...he casually calls me 98 hours later to ask, “Ma I was wondering can I come by the house to get a change of clothes? I thought to myself.......WHAT???!!! 

Well, needless to say he came back but he was on lock down for a long time.   Almost a year  later when I could finally talk about the ordeal without wanting to choke him I asked,  “Son, why did run away and worry your family?” He looked shocked and calmly replied, ” What are you talking about Ma?  I never ran away. You and my Dad just overreacted. I was only on an Atlanta excursion with a few of my friends.” This is one of my most fearful and yet the most relieved moments with my son!

As you can see, I have had plenty of adventures with my son.  There are too many to recount on this blog.  And....YES I am very glad that I have almost completed this phase of motherhood.  However,  I am looking forward to many, many more great years of creating great memories and adventure together!