Member-only story
“I Still Need a Mother”
Though she has gone on
For most of my adult life, my mother and I lived in different countries, but kept in touch constantly, which meant weekly letters for much of our lives. Phone calls were too expensive until more recently, and we had gotten used to the old ways.
Once I was visiting my parents with my two small children, and we were about to go out. Mum couldn’t resist a suggestion: “Don’t you think you’ll need a sweater when it cools down?”
Then she laughed and apologized. “I guess you’re an adult now and don’t need a mother.”
Before one of those trips to see family, we had graduated to shorter but speedier e-mail communication. A day or two before I left, Mum asked, “So what time are you leaving home?” I told her the time I’d planned to leave.
She shot back a message not long after that. “But your flight is at such-and-such a time and you need to be there at least two hours early!” (The airport is in another city, a couple of hours away, as well).
I had totally miscalculated the time I needed to factor in to arrive punctually for check-in and all that jazz. She was up there in years, but more on the ball than I was!
I still needed a mother!
