Happy Mother’s Day!

Happy Mother's Day Rose

Guys and their moms are a complicated thing. Even when you are close to your mom, as a guy, it is way different than it is for women and their moms at least in the cliche stereotypical versions we are told. My wife called her mom almost every day. And while her mom was around, even if they didn’t say a lot in those talks, those talks in hindsight meant the world to my wife and I am sure they meant the world to her mom. My wife was the only one who didn’t live close to her mom of all her siblings. So whether out of some “Mom Guilt” or just because it seemed like the right thing to do, my wife called her mom and in some ways she was closer to her mom than most of her siblings.

Me? Well, my wife asks me, have you talked to your parents this week? “No, why?” “Don’t you think you ought to call them sometime?” “Well, I usually seem them every weekend. ”

And we do. My folks and I have a system. Okay, I have a system and they are a part of it. If I am not coming Sunday, I call them on Saturday to let them know. I usually know by Saturday if something is going to prevent us from coming Sunday. Maybe my wife has to work or I have to work (we both work in IT, Weekends happen). Or maybe the kids have something going on right during the time we would normally come and see them. And if we are coming, my folks fix lunch and while it is some of the most amazing food in the world, I would still come see them even if they didn’t feed me. I would, I swear. In fact sometimes I feel guilty that I am not bringing a pizza or cooking something to bring to their house or even just coming later in the day so they don’t even have to bother with cooking us anything. Which I probably should do.

But I find over a meal, it is easier to talk sometimes. How is so’n’so doing? Did you have a good week? Guess what the kids did this week? Guess what my oldest child is doing now? Granted, I don’t like to talk with my mouth full, and did I mention how great the food is, but everyone is around the table and we are all sitting down and for a moment we are able to see each other.

I know growing up even in my so-called adult years, I committed “sins” that are recorded in the annals of time and hopefully I have had provided enough grand kids to my parents to cover my major foibles. If not, well, we aren’t having any more kids. I have the best four kids in the world and why take chances that the fifth one won’t be as awesome. I am already ahead of the curve. I joke sometimes that my kids are my way of asking for forgiveness. That with each one I am granted a Papal Pardon. And because I am married to an amazing woman, she was my fifth Papal Pardon and if not a pardon, at least an indulgence, and we aren’t even Catholic.  Maybe my sins aren’t forgiven completely because they are on a sound track somewhere. But hey, in my defense, I didn’t turn out all that bad. Granted, Jesus will be who makes the final decision on whether that is true or not.

All this to say, I love my Mom. She is an amazing woman. She put up with a lot from me and my sister. She helped me through some rough times at key moments in my life. The Lord has blessed me in so many ways and having her as my mom is one of them. The quote that often goes around, “Insanity is Hereditary, you get it from your kids” is probably true. I probably made my mom crazy and time or two or thousands. But she wears insanity well after all, she is my mom and you would have to be crazy to want to be that.

And if your mother is around, grab the phone and call her.

Let’s go Crazy

Dearly beloved
We are gathered here today
To get through this thing called life
Electric word life
It means forever and that’s a mighty long time
But I’m here to tell you
There’s something else
The after world
A world of never ending happiness
You can always see the sun, day or night
-“Let’s Go Crazy” Prince and The Revolution

Those lyrics seem appropriate. I am not usually one to quote lyrics but as I was starting this entry, well, it seems like that is what I wanted to do. So there.

A couple of people who follow me Tweeted me to ask was I posting at least twice a week to my blog. Sadly no. Thank you for trying to hold me accountable. I have started two or three blog posts about WordPress or social media topics and when I didn’t have the time to devote to them I had to stop and leave them in draft. My posts are often perhaps overly long. I don’t like to tell half the story. I also love to use images to help tell a story or explain how to do something. Teaching others is my passion. So if I can’t cover a topic well, I don’t want to cover it.
Justin Mazza Next chapter in life quote
Justin Mazza Next chapter in life quote
And Life has been happening. I have a “day job” that sadly keeps me away from writing full time. I also teach part time at a technical college. If it paid better I would love to teach full time. That day will come one day. I have kids who need time as they are a bigger legacy than any word I could ever write. I have an awesome wife who puts up with my craziness and who has been going through her own struggles as she has worked hard to help with her mom’s failing health. This involved lots of travel and her being away from home days at a time. So I have tried my best to keep the world running. Sure, the kids may have gone to school dressed as clowns wearing mismatched socks but I kept them fed and bathed. Yes, I can keep the house running but there is a synchronicity between my wife and I. She is the Ying to my Yang. So things do not run as smooth when she is not here.
Holly Victoria Norval Put a bit of yin and yang in you're life
Holly Victoria Norval Put a bit of yin and yang in you’re life
In the end her mom passed away Monday of this week. So now her Mom suffers from her earthly pains no more and is probably seeing her family and other love ones who passed on before in heaven.
 [clickToTweet tweet=”A bad change can be made and then there is the mid-course correction and that is the start of better change.” quote=”A bad change can be made and then there is the mid-course correction and that is the start of better change.”]
And then there is that day job. We just had a change in upper management. Disclaimer Alert: The views expressed by my online persona are my own and not of anyone I am or have ever been employed by. With changes in management there is always uncertainty. Will the new management change things up or will things some how remain the same. There are times when I seek even bad changes because at least that is a change. When the car stops moving forward, when there is no longer innovation, some times bad choices lead down a path to better choices. I certainly don’t seek bad choices but sometimes you have to allow change of any kind in order to allow change of a better kind.
Dilbert Rotate the Tires
Dilbert © 2015, Universal Uclick by Scott Adams
So suddenly the pressure is on to make a good impression. But the funny thing is I have a long track record of delivering the goods. While I may need to adjust my methods to new reporting requirements, I just need to keep doing what I do. I prefer to work behind the scenes and not be in the political machines that every company seems to have. And I try to stay away from politicians as they do not seem to move things forward.