Word to your mother

Once upon a time, I was just a wee little lad. Curious and adventurous I was, enough to wander off into parts unknown, into parts forbidden too, the kind of tyke who went off the beaten path from time to time if for no other reason than because I was told not to.

I remember one spring day, living on a now defunct army base, trekking through a muddy backyard that I was specifically told to stear clear of.

About half-way through, and this I only assume because I can't quite remember, I went to put a foot forward when shockingly that foot would move no longer, so engulfed it was by the thick mud that extended, in the eyes of a frightened two, three or was it four-year old, as far as the eyes could see.

Quickly my one stuck foot became two, and before long I had no hope, no chance of ever getting out of that backyard alive.

I was mucked.

The details are fuzzy, but I am certain, CERTAIN, that vultures circled high over head, just waiting for an opportune time to swoop down and start gnawing at me.

I was at death's door, no doubt about it.

But just when I thought I was doomed, just when my time on earth was about to come to an ignominious end in the middle of that muddy army base backyard, just when those deadly vultures were about to sink their claws into my bony baby shoulders and carry me away to a cliff-side nest for feeding time, I was saved.

By an angel on my shoulder.

By my mom.

Little did I know, but that muddy moment would foreshadow many others in my life, times when The Matriarch would pull me from the proverbial mud when it seemed all hope was lost.

Because that's what moms do. At least it's what my mom did, and it's what she still does today.

So in honour of Mother's Day, in honour of my mom, a small message of thanks as I reflect on that day in that backyard, and on all the other times when an angel on my shoulder somehow materialized at just the right time to save me from another problematic predicament.

And what better way to express my gratitude than by saying this:

Mom, thank you for always pulling me from the mud.