Lots of time to think about mom
This Mother's Day, incarcerated young men share their poignant relationships with their mothers.
from the May 10, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
"I accompanied her to an awards dinner because my father was drunk and in no condition to go out. [On the one hand] I remember her so embarrassed about my father, but on the other hand she was so very proud of me for being able to stand in for him. I wasn't a bad-looking fellow back then. I must have gotten hit on by 10 women. I wanted to go back the next year."
And, no surprise, there were many tributes to mothers among the essays:
"She is my strength.... She is a jewel and a rock coexisting together."
"She hurried toward me knowing I needed rescuing...."
"She aimed the bottle of insecticide at that huge spider. I saw something light up. I don't remember if it was a match or a lighter. The bottle became a flamethrower. It was as if my mother's hand was a dragon's head shooting flames.... The spider was toast. Ever since that day I [have] looked at my mother in a different light. She was my warrior princess."
"For Christmas when I was about 10, she brought my brother and me a PlayStation game system. It must have been when they first came out. She really didn't know what she had, but she knew my brother and me would love it. The three of us stayed up all night playing games. And my mother isn't what you would call a game wizard. She was always ready for her turn, but she really stayed up just to cheer us on."
"When we needed something at the store, I would go to my mom's job and yell up to her. She would tie up some money and float it down to me. I swear [it seemed] to me, back then, she had to be a billion feet in the air. I would chase the money and circle under it as it floated down. She would say to me, 'You better catch it before the clouds do.' "
"It was Halloween, I was about 5 years old, and she took me around for trick-or-treating. No costume. She explained that I would go as her favorite character – her son. We mostly played in the street and didn't collect much candy. Didn't matter. It was the best Halloween."
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