This year, as Mother’s Day has been approaching, I’ve been thinking about a story that my mom used to tell. She was a great story teller and teaching for so many years left her with a lot of stories. I had the pleasure of having my mom as a teacher and this story includes me. While I’m not as good at telling stories as she was, I wanted to share this one.
Those who teach kindergarten are quite often called “mama” by mistake. Many children, having spent the past several years with their mother, call their teacher “mama” before they realize their mistake. My mom was accustomed to this and did not mind having dozens of different children calling her “mama.”
On one particular day in kindergarten I had called on my mom several times; each time calling her what I have always called her – “mama.” It was early in the school year and one of the little boys in the class figured I was making a mistake. He decided to call me out on it. “Quit calling her ‘mama’!” the boy told me in a rather forceful voice.
My mom said I simply looked at him quizzically and said, “But her is my mama!”
That story always made my mom laugh. Losing mama was definitely the most painful experience I have ever been through. When she passed away I lost my greatest supporter. I lost a friend, a teacher and a mother. And even though she’s been gone for several years now, I still call her “mama.”
After all, “her is my mama!”