I get a lot of traits from my Mother. I have her hands, feet, ears, bone structure, and most of all, her silliness. I don't think many people knew just how silly she could be. She couldn't tell a joke to save her life, but she did have a great sense of humor and could be very whimsical. For some reason, maybe because I just always have to be different, maybe because of the aforementioned silliness, I gave my Mom a nickname when I was about 15. I started calling her Moo. Because my Mother was so cool she went along with it. She didn't like it when I called her "dude," but "Moo" she was okay with. I started thinking about Moo last night as I was struggling with another bout of insomnia and I recalled my favorite memory of her. That's what I want to share right now.
It was the summer between my Junior and Senior year of high school which means I was 17. It was mid-morning and my mother was in her bedroom getting ready for work. She worked 2nd shift so she didn't have to be in until early afternoon. Her bedroom was right off of the kitchen and she had her door open. I walked into the kitchen and saw the 2 water guns that my older brother and I had bought and filled with water the day before sitting on the kitchen table. I was feeling mischievous so I grabbed one of the guns went into Moo's bedroom and started squirting water at her. She yelled at me, naturally, and then chased me out of her bedroom. She saw the second gun sitting on the table, and she grabbed it and started shooting me back. Soon we are chasing each other all over the house spraying each other with water and laughing our asses off. All of a sudden, my gun either jammed or I ran out or water or something, so now I'm trying to surrender. Moo would have none of it. I had started the water gun fight, and come hell or high-water (pun intended) she was going to finish it. She chased me down, shouting "HA-HA" in glee, soaking me to the skin with her water gun. Moo was going to have her revenge and love every minute of it!
Seeing that I had no recourse but to run away I ran out the front door, down the porch steps, down the stone stairs, to the sidewalk. Moo comes tearing out of the house after me and stops for a minute on the porch. Suddenly, she looks down at herself and realizes she's only wearing her pants and a bra! She screams, tries to cover herself, and runs back into the house. I literally collapsed on the sidewalk laughing until both my throat and my stomach hurt. It was hilarious!
Moo was a little mad at me, but even she had to admit it was her own fault for not accepting my surrender. She was so much fun. We were always doing crazy things like that. Whenever I miss her too much (which is always) I conjure up that memory and it makes me laugh to remember the look on Moo's face when she realized she was half-naked.
As much as it hurts to have lost her so soon, I am so grateful to have had her in my life at all. Someone who loved me so fully and unconditionally that I still feel it 4 years after her death. The best thing I could wish for anyone reading this is that you have, or did have a Mom as great as mine. If she's still around, why don't you give her a call?
Just a suggestion.
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