Dia De Las Madres

I’m in Kansas City right now, typing from my Mom’s computer. I surprised her today with a visit. Now my mom has a reputation in our family for being, um, highly emotional and expressive when one of her children she hasn’t seen in a while shows up. (I’m 3rd oldest of 11 kids, and haven’t seen my mom for a little over 2 years)

Tomorrow four or five of the siblings will be here, some with their kids in tow (or in utero) and we’ll grill food and I’m going to play some music for everyone. My mom hasn’t heard me sing before (well, she still proudly talks about the time in 7th grade when I got “three standing ovations” for my performance as Nicely Nicely Johnson in our school play). So I’m really excited beyond words to be able to share my music with her.

This is especially meaningful to me because it’s Mother’s Day, and because my mom has always told me that I have a special calling in life. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out what that meant, and last January, it got really, really clear.

I sang a few of the guitar-based songs tonight for her on her bed (she’s had back surgery and knee surgery and has been pretty laid up for the last several months. She’s improved and can move about without assistance now, but still is in a lot of pain…). Anyway, it was wonderful. I sang “Semper Fi” (My sister is a Marine and today is her birthday – I was going to sing to her, but wasn’t able to reach her overseas), “I May Never See The Day”, “Everyday Superman” and “Your Sugar”.

I get all swelled up (I think the emotional thing runs in the family…) thinking about being here for Mother’s Day, and getting to put on a little house concert for her and a bunch of the family I grew up with. I’m looking forward to letting it rip tomorrow and showing her what I’ve been up to.

I hope to figure out a way to record it (I don’t have a very portable recording system, sadly, else I’d post more music), but we’ll see.

In the meantime, happy birthday Allison, and happy Mother’s Day to all the mom’s.