A Note To My Most Important Reader

Today’s post is not for you. No really, you can keep reading if you’d like, but it’s really not meant for you.

Still here, I see. Okay, suit yourself.

I post Monday through Friday. It’s the practice I set up when I started this years ago. The downside is that if something exciting happens on a weekend, I have to wait until Monday. Mostly, it’s a story about camping or car repairs.

Well, today’s Monday and yesterday was an exciting day. A special day. A day worth celebrating. In the United States, yesterday was Mother’s Day.

I didn’t call my mother yesterday. The phone rang about 9:00am and she had a question about two of my sons who are planning a trip out to visit her this summer.

What is their birthdate? Oh, and your address. And should I put down your phone number?

We talked as people do who share a history and have similar interests. She asked me about Bitcoin. (I’m not a fan.) She was a CPA and a licensed financial planner. Through hard work and conservative investing, she made a lot of money for her clients and created a comfortable retirement for herself. I’m convinced that she won’t end up betting all her retirement money on cryptocurrency. But, she’ll put some of it in. . .probably.

I did a series of articles a couple years ago about “Lessons From My Fathers.” Mom was married a few times. At the time I didn’t consider what it would mean to my mother. I hadn’t meant to hurt her feelings, but I did. I apologized, as sons do.

My mother is an amazing woman. She has been dirt poor and fairly wealthy. In both wealth and poverty she was always the same woman: kind, generous, funny. She always claimed she couldn’t sing. But, she always sounded like an angel to me. She had to figure out how to raise at least three boys. In my family that’s kind of the best description you can hope for. I have two brothers and one sister. My sister has five brothers. My brother has three brothers and a sister. We’re all correct, and none of us are exactly right. My mother managed to keep all of that straight while raising us.

She went back to school later in life. She passed the CPA exam on her first try. She built a successful CPA firm in her adopted home town of Olympia, Washington. She then started an investment firm, earning her licensed financial planner certification. She cared for my dad, she doted on him really. Theirs was a unique relationship. To an outsider it looked like they bickered and quarreled. To those of us that knew them both, it was obvious they were clearly in love.

She cared for him all the way up until the day that he died. I still remember a trip to Denver that they took just shortly before my dad passed. I drove the seven hours from Pleasant Grove, Utah to Denver to help them put affairs in order so they could get on a plane. It was the last time I saw my dad alive.

She’s a remarkable woman and I’m lucky to be her son.

I know Mother’s Day is passed, but call your mother if you are lucky enough to still have her in your life.

I hope you love your mother as much as I love mine.

Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. 

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