A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.
– Mark Twain
At 61 years of age I thought that I had pretty much made all of the mistakes that there are to make in one’s lifetime. Likewise, when dealing with my Mom, I thought that I had pretty much done everything there was to do to annoy, distress, embarrass, or otherwise upset her. And yet this past week I had one of those “Mom moments” that proves one is never too old to screw up.
I was at her house Tuesday, Election Day sitting in her living room where we were conversing about the usual subjects. We discussed how my kids and grandchildren are doing. (In particular, she worries about Reagan and Reagan’s recovery from her recent back surgery.) We then moved onto talking politics and Mom confided that she ultimately voted for Obama but did so very reluctantly. Life long, die hard Democrat that she is, Mom had been having problems about voting in this presidential race. She was not happy with Obamacare’s messing with Catholic institutions. In the days leading up to the election she had been talking about doing something she had never done before and that was to not vote for either candidate. Ultimately though, she ending up voting for the Punahou Kid.
As Mom then moved from politics and Catholic health care concerns, she began telling me the latest St. Michael’s Church/School stuff. Usually in this part of our conversations, I tend to tune out a little and think about what liquor I need to order at the Store. This time however, somewhere in that process I must have tuned her out too much because as she was talking, I fell asleep! Room was hot, chair was cozy and I was tired. It was the ideal combination of circumstances to doze off right? Still, it’s no excuse to sit there and fall asleep when your Mom is trying to tell you something.
As my chin hit my chest she asked “Honey, are you falling asleep while I’m talking to you?” What could I say? 