My Mother Loves Me

My mother is an interesting mix of brains and humor.  She is absolutely brilliant – like graduated high school at 16y and would have graduated earlier but they wouldn’t let her. Like remodeling her house, fixing her car, and making computer programs while solving the world’s problems brilliant. Like read the dictionary because it’s fun kind of brilliant. In fact, growing up I’d rarely look things up, I’d just ask her and she knows.  She’s so smart, so very matter of fact about so many things that in this day and age, she’d likely have been diagnosed with Aspergers or something – not that she can’t deal with people, she just doesn’t deal with fools easily.  As she’s gotten older, she’s quit holding her opinion of them, of anything really, to herself.

As a result, she has these wonderful one-line responses to things that just put me on the floor.  Like the time I told her my brother was selling his house and moving to LA and that I thought it was kind of connected to this girl he’d met and mom said. “Well, she must be good in bed.”  Brother didn’t believe me but I got her to say it to his face, which became an amazing moment that just sums up our family.  (FYI: My brother would probably like me to state that the girl is not why he moved to LA. Actually, my brother would probably like me to leave this whole part out but that's not happening...)

But of all the things I find remarkable in my mom, the thing I find so freaking cool is that she communicates in comic strips.  How wonderfully awesome is that?  Growing up, she’d mention ones to look for in the paper that were in line with my current life status or she’d send them to me in the mail.  I’d get whole series of comics related to my hair issues or my boyfriend issues or my “what is the meaning of my life” issues.  I got a packet of them just the other day – an envelope filled with comic strips and a post-it note saying – Thought you might enjoy these. There was nothing else in the envelope and no sentiment on the note just comic strips and a post-it.  I love her.

Anyway, this link will lead you to a brilliant strip done by Gavin Aung Than in homage to the master of all comic strips: Bill Watterson. It's actually an illustrated quote from a speech given by Bill Watterson's in 1990. 

I think it perfectly sums up our last year of transition, why Husband and I made the move here to Nashville and the happiness we hope to find.  And I know, if my mom had seen it in the paper, she’d have cut it out and sent it to me in the mail because she loves me and this is how she’d say it.