Mother's Day Roses

As you walk up to my house, you will pass a rose bush. This bush has been there since we moved in some 25yrs ago. Every season it will bloom with the most beautiful blossoms that make you stop in your tracks. My mom loves this rose bush, as do I. When I was a child I would surprise my mom when she got home from work. I would go outside, pick roses for her, and put them in a pot on a kitchen counter. I would then hide and watch her expression as she came through the door to find beautiful fresh picked roses. I got instant brownie points and got away with forgetting to take out the trash!!

Last year on Mothers Day (MD), I surprised my mom with a visit from Cali. I flew in on Saturday night and showed up to her church on Sunday morning. The entire soprano section was also in tears as I walked up and gave her a kiss. We the day followed with the traditional MD meal and laughs. We took pictures in front of the roses. I knew right there and then that as good as it was to surprise mums, nothing would beat being around her 24/7. I am a momma’s boy at heart and I was coming home!!

My decision to move back to Fl from Cali was met with some resistance. My roommate at the time felt that I was throwing away a good life I had started. True. Some of my friends did not understand why I would leave Northen California when it was a place that I loved so much. Also True. Even my own mom was skeptical when she came out to visit. She was shocked to realize that a good job, great friends, awesome church, and unbelievable weather could all be in one place, and that I was walking away from all this. Even she asked why?? The answer is the same as it has always been…”You only get one mother!!”

Before my father passed away, we talked about a few things in life he would’ve liked to see me do. On top of telling me how much he loved me, he also told me in specific words to look after my mother. After his passing I knew exactly how James felt at the cross when Jesus charged him to look after Mary. I have always felt that it was my responsibility for her well being even though it is still her who takes care of me some times.

My mom is very important to me and I so thankful to have her. On any given day she can cause me to pull my hair out or run face first into a wall, but I still cherish her with an undying passion. I do not have an Oedipus Complex by any means, but I do look to date women who have that same loving, caring, and nuturing characteristics that my mom possesses. As I am getting older and become a much more mature adult, I am beginning to understand all the sacrifices my parents made for me. It is an awesome feeling to be able to return some of that love.

In the Jamaican culture, parents never ever go to nursing homes. The reasons for this vary from expense to basic principles. From a young child I was always taught a saying that goes ”once a parent, twice a child”. This falls in correlation with the riddle from the Sphinx that Oedipus solved. It is a basic understanding that all people will go through a phase in their life when they will gain and lose their independence as adults. My mom is far from these days, but I did not only want to take care of her when I had too, I wanted to make some great memories as an adult to take with me when she is gone. The seasons of ones life may change but the love will always remain the same. Every rose I smell takes me to our garden, one day I know that scent will be nevermore.

“God gave us our memories so that we might have roses in December.”-J. M. Barrie