Very, Very Short Mother's Day Stories

One of the things all humans have in common is this: everyone has a mother. There are loving mothers and angry mothers, artistic mothers and good cook mothers. We all know about neglectful mothers or possessive mothers, inspirational mothers. hovering mothers. happy mothers. unhappy mothers. funny mothers. sexy mothers. mothers who lived a long time or were cut down in their prime.

We challenged YourLifeIsATrip.com writers to tell us their Mother's Day tales in 25 words or less. But don’t let the small size fool you — at the heart of each of these very very short essays is a powerful story. So this is our gift to you--some very very short stories from the YourLifeIsATrip.com family. 

Mommy sandwich. Photo by Theresa Martell via flickr CCL.

1. Fragrances of Chanel No. 5 and face powder remind me of my friends' mothers.  The smell of bleach reminds me of mine. - Maureen Magee  

2. Loving, supportive, wise, funny -- my mother, who never graduated college, started teaching psychology courses at a community college in her 70's. That was the kind of person she was. - Fyllis Hockman

3. Mother is gone. But she left behind the stories of all the mothers who shaped us...to read, to question, to explore. Our stories. - Vera Marie Badertscher

4. Daughters marry; mothers gain a son. Sons marry; mothers lose him,” announced Meta. But when her son married me, she kept him and gained a daughter. - Andy Gross  

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Helicopter Mom To The Rescue

by Marla Finn

Look! Up in the sky! Is it a bird? A plane? Sarah Palin looking for more wolves to shoot? NO! It's Helicopter Mom hovering over her children. Watch out! You better get out of my way, or else!

Okay, listen. We've all been hearing and reading a ton about the current generation of moms and dads who are too involved in their children's lives and just can't seem let go. Well, let me tell you that I'm not just one of those. I specialize. I have unique talents and longevity that no other Helicopter Mom has. After all, I've been one for over a quarter century now. No wonder all the other HM's come to me for advice.

Oh, sure, I have my fingers in everything my children are doing, even though they're now in their early and mid 20's. The finger part is the initial requirement to get into the HM club. With a flip of my cell phone, I call the heads of universities and demand immediate attention for my kids. Any counselor, professor or advisor better watch out for my wing span, cause I don't stop flying till my mission is accomplished. And it so helps that I do character voices for a living. Cause every good helicopter mom knows that pretending you are your kid is essential for completing any task...especially at the university level, where they won't even talk to you if you breathe the words "mother" or "father."

In fact, I just got off the phone with the admissions office at the college my youngest hopes to transfer into this fall. I made my voice higher, to sound like I'm 20 instead of 60, I had her address, social security and student numbers at the ready, and I played my daughter like an academy award winning actress to get the info I wanted immediately. No one beats me to the punch. No one takes advantage of my kids. No one tells me "no." HM's do not ever take "no" for an answer. If we can't get what we want one place, we fly off somewhere else till we can.

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Mama Mia! Enjoy the trip

 For Mother's Day, YourLifeIsATrip.com co-founder Judith Fein wrote about her mama. We decided to check in with our other writers to see what they have to say about the women who birthed them. You may be very surprised. Feel free to leave comments for any of the writers and Happy Mother's Day if you are one, have one, or plan to be one!

Mama Mia, Indeed

words + photos by Melanie Fidler

My mom and I just got back from a mother-daughter bonding trip to Italy to visit my little sister, Jaclyn, who is studying abroad in Florence. We traveled hand-in-hand to Venice, Florence, and Rome in 10 days. It was the first trip we took, just the two of us. It was my first trip to Italy and I was happy to have my Italian mother with me.

We started off in Venice, a magical wonderland of masquerade masks, Murano glass, gelato, and romance. If only I was on my honeymoon! It’s an amazing place that almost seemed fake, like a movie set. Instead of streets and highways filled with car traffic there were quaint canals and waterways with gondolas and boats. We really did nothing all day but wander the streets, get lost, find our way, and eat, drink and be merry with the locals. I’m lucky to have had my mom there to experience such fine treats with me.

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My Mother, Who Had No Age

by Susanna Starr

We celebrated my mother’s birthday on Feb. 8th, but never really knew how old she was. She said that she was born in 1900 because it not only made her two years younger than my father, but was easy for her to calculate her age. In 1968, when my mother died, we did some of our own calculations and came up with something between 72 and 74, but of course didn’t know for sure.

Coming of age in New York’s Harlem, she expressed her independence by dropping out of school before she even entered high school and then taking a factory job, something not unusual at the time. In her early twenties, she opened her own retail shop with one of her multitude of sisters.

Education was never one of her goals but she was beautiful and was known for the way she dressed, spending more on her clothes then than I do now. Of course, I don’t have the interest in them that she had.

Marrying my father and settling down with children must have been difficult for her but she thought that was what she was supposed to do, especially since she had passed the 30-year mark and needed to make a move if she was going to do what was expected of her by her family and culture.

Her mood swings, her constant complaints about her life, her put- downs of my father, my brother and less, of me, were accepted. She was discontented about almost everything. Never knowing what was going to set her off, I retreated and tread lightly. Not ever being able to drive (she said she was too nervous), she was imprisoned in her own life.

Now, that I’m approaching that time of her last years, I’m a great deal more understanding of this woman, my mother, who never lived the life she thought she should have. Instead, although vastly different in temperament, I’ve done the living she never did……

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I Don't Want to Die, Mom

by Marla Finn

This July I turn 59 years old. If I live as long as my mother, then I am about to embark on my last year of life.

Mom, you were thequeen of selflessness.You gave up everything for everyone else. My deepest frustration was not being able to get you to see that your mother and sister were sucking the life out of you. Every day, on the phone, you’d try your hardest to get them to listen, think things through, and calm down. It NEVER worked. The medical profession says that stress can cause disease. It's clear in your case that it did.

I refuse to be done in from that kind of “love.” My dear daughters are at me daily with their emotional breakdowns about boys, mean girls, computer mishaps, school, jobs. But I’m not as good a person as you were, mom! I’m selfish. I hate being yelled at, even if only as a sounding board. I give advice and they don’t listen. I want to live longer than one more year.

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