My mom once read an article on the happiest moments of your life in Reader's Digest. It talked about how a parent should often sit down with their children and talk about the happiest moments that they have shared.
Mom asked me to think of the happiest moments we ever had together. When we had our top five down, we shared them just to see if they were the same. Several were. Id' give anything to remember all of the ones Mom shared, but I can only remember a couple. I didn't realize then that she'd die from lung cancer long before her time.
The first one was when she took me to Grand Forks to get my red and white Huffy dirt bike. We went all over GF before finally stopping at Target. I saw that bike hanging from the ceiling and knew it was the one for me. Mom wasn't sure. It was a little more than she wanted to spend (isn't that how it always goes?).
In fact, we walked out of Target and I remember trying so hard not to cry. But I couldn't help frowning.
For some reason, Mom relented and we went back and got it. I was the happiest kid.
The other memory involved Mom always taking me to Country Kitchen in Thief River Falls for my birthday. They always sent me a little card in the mail that offered me a free meal on my birthday (I figured that help offset all the times Mom said that whatever I wanted was just a little more than she wanted to spend!). We'd sit there for lunch and she'd let me play those little jukeboxes they had at the individual tables. Then we'd usually go back to school shopping.
While I don't remember all of hers, I know mine like the back of my hand.
* One night Mom and I watched Kolchak: The Night Stalker on TV. I couldn't have been more than five. Mom set down a blanket and we cuddled on the floor and watched it. Kolchak was a reporter who stumbled upon a series of grisly murders, committed by a vampire. It scared me, but I know I was safe with Mom. A quick visit to Wikipedia informed me that Kolchak aired in 1972, so we must have caught a re-run several years later. Little did I know then that the script was written by none other than Richard Matheson (author of I Am Legend), who would become one of my favorite horror writers ten years down the road.
I knew I had enjoyed it, but I never realized how much Mom had enjoyed it until I overheard her talking to my dad on the phone (who was calling from the road) and she said that we had cuddled and had a great time watching a movie.
* My mother had surgery on her knee in the fall of my junior year. As a result, she couldn't sit in the stands for any of my football games that year. So Dad always got to the games a couple hours early to park close to the field.
We were several games into our season - and it was our first winning season since I was in 8th grade - when Mom and Dad traveled up to Warren. Dad happened to find a spot right by where our bus parked.
After our halftime meeting on the bus, I got off the bus and began to run to the field with the other players. That was when I spotted our Buick Skylark. I ran to the passenger side window and knocked. Mom rolled it down and smiled and asked, "So are you going to pull this one out? You guys better play better."
"Of course, we're going to win, Mom," I said and saw her smile.
And we did too - 33-12.
Another moment - and perhaps the most treasured one from my childhood - was one night shortly before Christmas, Mom turned all the lights off, except for the Christmas tree. Then she turned on some Christmas music and sang her favorite Christmas songs. I remember her singing "Do You Hear What I Hear?" and "The Little Drummer Boy" specifically. It was magical.
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