"The Most Precious Word"
Dedicated to all the moms who have passed away—and who will never, ever be forgotten.
.
.
Audio version…
.
After raking in a wad of cash from my 750 aunts and uncles for my first communion in second grade, I went with my mom on a Saturday morning to make a deposit at our local bank.
My mom and I were standing at the teller’s window.
She was holding the hands of my youngest brother, Marty—and my youngest sister, Alison, was squirming around in her arms. The other four found a little taste of heaven in those delicious sugar cubes next to the free coffee.
This middle-aged guy, with a tie knot that was too big, asked my mom what her occupation was.
It was the just that hit me.
I chimed in, “She’s my mother.”
He gave me that smirky, condescending look where he was really saying, “You get a gold star for figuring that out.”
I didn’t have the confidence or permission or biceps to explain what I meant, so I just pulled out my money and put it on the counter.
It’s taken a long time to really know what I was trying to tell that man. It’s taken a lifetime.
You get many dozens of years to experience hundreds of treasured moments that profoundly move you, that inspire you, that reinvent you.
You have dear, cherished, caring friends who know the real you, massage you, and fill you up at every harbor of your journey.
Over a lifetime, you live in a number of places that ground you—creating springboards for your possibilities and relationships.
You become part of many groups, clubs, and activities that are comforting blankets to cook and shape the unique and evolving you. As years go by, you visit so many places around the world, forever a reminder of nature’s banquet of what wonder and breadth mean.
But you have only one, only one, of maybe the most precious and elegant word in the world.
Mother.
The word from where love, and commitment, and giving were born.
.
.
“Jimmy Dunne Says” celebrates the arts. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber, receiving weekly new stories, songs, videos, poetry, photography, and podcasts—supporting my creative work.
“Jimmy Dunne Says” is available on Amazon at https://a.co/d/0glozZtb
At Audible.com (with Jimmy Dunne reading).
Jimmy Dunne is a modern-day Renaissance Man; a hit songwriter with songs on 28 million hit records; songs, scores, and themes in over a thousand television episodes and many hit films; a screenwriter and producer of hit television shows; award-winning book author; an entrepreneur—and his town’s “Citizen of the Year.” Reach out to him at j@jimmydunne.com.