The Good Son

Mothers are not supposed to have favorites among their children. I'm not sure who made that decree but it couldn't have been a mother. Of course, we have favorites! No matter how many sweet kids we have, we always have a favorite. It just isn't the same kid all the time!

Or maybe it is. I believe that in every mother's heart there is a special sweet place for each of her children. None is more important than the other, for to make one part of a heart more important would be to weaken the heart.

Now that doesn't mean that today, at this exact moment, one of the kids can't take top spot for a few minutes. He or she does something extra sweet or extra laudable and so he/she gets the extra praise, smile or hug.

Growing up, my kids competed for what they dubbed "The Good Son Award". It was an imaginary trophy named after a strange movie that starred Macaulay Culkin.

I'd come home and find that one of the four had done the dishes -a strenuous chore involving much heavy lifting of plates, cups, and cereal bowls from distant hidden realms like under his bed, or in the closet. Then he hauled them over hazardous terrain; scaling piles of dirty socks, maneuvering around unidentifiable barriers in their bedrooms, avoiding the precariously placed skateboard at the top of the stairs.

Eventually, he would traverse all the way to the kitchen then to risk arm and hand in the mostly unexplored regions of the dishwasher. There he would struggle to arrange the objects in a somewhat creative manner and seek out the Cascade that caused sparkling dinnerware. Most difficult of all he would have to actually remember to then turn on the dishwasher.

I'd arrive home, discover the miracle along with dishes I'd forgotten I owned, and ask, "Who did the dishes?" From in front of the TV screen where a fierce battle was being waged by Link (always referred to in our house as FOFL) to save Zelda, would come a triumphant cry from Sage Words. "I'm the Good Son!"

On another day, Skooba manage to get our old car running for a few more weeks. When I thanked him he'd remind me, "I'm the Good Son!"

I've mentioned my penchant for buying yarn at thrift shops. What I left out is how many times that yarn comes in huge loose masses in big plastic bags. JuggleSorcerer twisted his ankle and couldn't work as a cave guide for several days one time. Coming home from a volunteer job at the museum I was astonished to see he'd rolled at least eight large balls of yarn from that knotted tangled mess. "I'm the Good Son!" he said with a lopsided grin. (he is still the champion yarn ball roller in the family and Buttercup takes full advantage of this talent.)

Lone Duck helped us clean up the debris after we lost our house in a flood in late November 1995. As we were trying to scrounge furniture and other necessary appliances from thrift shops and rummage sales before Christmas, we came home one day to find an enormous Christmas tree on our front porch. Although he never admitted to it we found out (Thanks Jessi) that he'd cut it down in the woods behind his house. So while he didn't claim it that day even Skooba knew he was the Good Son that time.

They still call me once in awhile and surprise me with something they have done for us or for someone else and I still tell them they are the Good Son of the hour.

A few years ago, I found copies of that old movie in Wal-Mart's $5.00 bin. With Buttercup looking on and keeping my secret, I bought four copies. I wrapped each one in different paper and added a tag which read, "This is your special Christmas gift-don't tell your brothers."
Imagine the hilarity when(as expected) they didn't listen to their Mom but simply had to brag - 3x each!

Two of my boys have blogs, two don't. That doesn't make the bloggers better sons than the non-bloggers. It just means I can draw your attention to something so sweet it had me in tears this morning. Please go here to The Tao of Dethwombat to read Sage Words very modest blog on May 14th. it's about something he has worked long and hard to achieve. Be sure to scroll through the comments to find one from Lone Duck. Then go here to Cheese and Quackersz to read Lone Duck's blog from May 16th and again look in the comments for one from Sage.

What I'm doing next might get me in trouble with all four of my kids but it's time. So here is a picture of four babies with my sweet boys real first names. See if you can guess which one is my favorite Good Son.

Jamie, Ray, Noel, Eric
The Good Sons

"Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother." - Lin Yutang

See ya down the road,
Yarntangler