Mommas, Music & Respect

    She asked, “what made you listen to Paul Simon.” Now, I can’t think of many reasons why I would not want to listen to Paul Simon.  I love the sounds of Garfunkel too, as long as he is in the background making the sound and sentiments float on and take me to a higher plane.  I did have to think for a second, but it was an easy answer, “mom.” I needed to call my mom back. We talk all the time, but sometimes the daily, nightly and weekend grind of 24/7 work (thanks a million email!) makes the personal and important secondary to the tertiary.  So, what was the tune I had to hear? “Loves me like a rock.” “Oh, my momma loves me” says Paul and he goes on to make all of us feel like proud first-graders getting a hug from mom in front of our teacher…beaming.  I remember listening to that song as a teenager and thinking about someone being the President and still being momma’s boy and proud of it--and wondering if that was possible. Of course, those thoughts were just for me, because “cool,” of course.  Video: Paul Simon: Loves Me Like a Rock

“If I was President
And the Congress call my name
I'd say "who do
Who do you think you're fooling?"
I've got the Presidential Seal
I'm up on the Presidential Podium
My mama loves me
She loves me
She gets down on her knees and hugs me
And she loves me like a rock
She rocks me like the rock of ages”

          --Paul Simon, “Loves me like a rock”

         I gave my wife a temporary pass when she asked why I was spending an entire

afternoon listening to Paul Simon.  When Simon’s Graceland album, or in my case, cassette tape was released in 1986, I played it a few times.  I played it a few times in the morning and continued into the evening and for the next few months I kept flipping that cassette.  Late in the evening or on Sunday morning, my wife was blessed with my continuing fresh interpretations of the world beat of Graceland. The sounds of Ladysmith Black Mambazo were some of my favorites. I later saw them in concert, but their greatest received concerts ever may have been on my driveway and from my “boom box” as I washed my car or pretended to tinker on something.

    Video: Paul Simon: Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes             

     Motherhood is cool. Moms are my hope for humanity.  I see quite a few former boys who as men are not respecting their moms, sisters, wives, and every other woman and girl on this planet.  Your momma should love you like a rock, and every boy and alumni of boyhood should never forget to do as Aretha said, show your    R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

    I once was on the wrong end of a momma who loved her boy like a rock.  Attempting to beat out a possible infield single I decided to not only hit first base, but put a shoulder into the first baseman.  Combining baseball and football was a marvelous moment for me until I turned around to the base after my hard earned single. I sported a 4^th-grader-as-gladiator stride while watching the first basemen attempt to get up from the blindside attack. I then caught a glimpse of a streak leaving the bleachers and heard the sounds of a woman saying something to the effect of “oh, not my baby.” She was headed to check on said baby. She also wanted to say a few things to me, and I stood struck in fear. Luckily my coaches shielded me from the wrong side of a momma’s love. 

     Thanks to the moms and the dads who love their kids and aren't afraid to show it. I know raising children can be tough. Teaching teenagers all day makes me want to help moms and dads in every way possible. Every kid needs a mom like the one from “Love me like a rock." For those kids that don’t, there is likely an educator attacking a mountain of musts so they can mentor, encourage or inspire...like a mom.