Right Where You Need to Be

Right Where You Need to Be

WC 300

“I was here. Where I always am. Where were you last night, little missy?”

“What gives you the right to ask?”

“I guess I have every right. After all, I am your mother.”

“True, but I’m sixty years old! Come on, mom, at some point you have to stop hovering! You give a whole new meaning to the term ‘helicopter mom’. “

“I take offense to that. I’m just concerned. Some no-good man can take advantage of a young girl like you.”

“I appreciate your concern. I honestly do. You have to let me go! I have a life apart from you. I have been married and have children, remember them? So I am not exactly as pure as the driven snow.”

We sat in my mother’s apartment in the assisted living home. I visit most every day, But let me tell you, it is getting harder and harder to find the energy to make this trip. Mom seems to have me in her mind as a seventeen-year old high school senior. It is a fact of life I am having trouble accepting.

Then I remember that incident from high school as I came in late one night and the police were called. It was an ugly scene and almost ruined my chances for graduation and college. But mom and dad stood by me. Most days I block that out. Funny how our minds work. But my mother’s mind brings this all back. She is reliving it now.

“Mom, I am fine. I was safe last night. I was with friends. You don’t need to worry about me.”

“Well that’s good to know. I will always worry about you. That is what moms do, you know. That’s our job. You’re never too old for Mom to worry.”