Today me and my mom and my step-dad celebrated Mother’s Day with a picnic and a hike. The weather was amazing and unexpected. It was the sort of day where my mom took off her raincoat about a half of a mile in. While the weather report said otherwise, it did not rain at all and the sun even peeked out from behind the clouds a bit. So even though while the temperature was in the mid-60’s, my mom likes a brisk pace and I had already taken off my raincoat earlier.
After a 1.25-mile loop we ended up near where we started next to a sign with all the trails available deciding what to do next. My son and I had visited this place before and ended up exploring all the available trails which was (with overlap) about six miles. My mom seemed to be leaning toward tackling the next longest loop, but my step-dad was a little worried. He is diabetic and while I had tried to make a picnic with food that was fairly balanced to give fuel to the body while being easy to manage insulin levels, well, as I do not really understand diabetes I left the discussion about which trail to tackle next up to my parents. Except I did say something about we could try this trail, (one that my mom was eyeing with the caveat that it might be flooded), or another shorter one that would take us by some cranes, or head back to the car. My step-dad sort of waffled until my mom told him something along the lines of, “look, he’s trying to ask you how you’re feeling”. And she was spot on. Because while I do not really understand the diabetic bit, (or my mom’s gluten allergy), I do try to understand and be sensitive to that without making it some hurdle to overcome.
All that may have come out wrong. I am a pretty proud person and would not want someone to alter things on account of me. While I really do not know the whole diabetic bit I have tried to understand and put myself in those shoes. What I have imagined is discouragement at knowing what one wants to do then declining because of a heightened understanding of what one’s body is telling oneself allows. So I get why my step-dad was probably waffling. While I was trying to sooth things my mom finally said to him, in essence and in I think what you can do as a married couple with a connection, “go take care of yourself because I love you and let me take this trip”.
So my step-dad took my raincoat with the keys to the car in the pocket back to home base while my mom and I took off on another trail.
My mom and I talked a bit during the hike about various things from the scenery to work and which path to take over the water on the trail, (things were pretty flooded). Then I heard something.
My mom was breathing hard. Not upset or strained or anything, but mortal. In my mind my mom does not breathe hard, so it was a bit unnerving.
However a little bit ago me and Liam were running around in the back yard playing a game of “capture the flag”. After that I told him that I was breathing hard and out of shape.
He said that he was as well.
I get in one sense that my mom is about to turn 70 and that things happen. I just have never seen her out of breath. Yet she kept going full of life and observation.
To me she is that 20 or 30-year-old that will not age. That is my mom who likes to take a walk and look at things. That is my mom who likes as far as I can tell what I cooked, (except the green eggs and ham I made one St. Patrick’s Day a long time ago and she couldn’t get over the food coloring). That is my mom who asks if I purchased a bunch of “Mothering Day” cards from the UK when I was there. (No, I didn’t, but it turned out that the past couple of years I was in the UK right before “Mothering Day” which is a few months before “Mother’s Day” in the US and I thought it funny to get some card that said “Mummy”.)
80 pence in Atherstone is nothing yet very important. Taking an extended hike with my mom today was priceless.