I took Mama to the office today to meet my boss and some other people. I had intended it to be a 15-30 minute visit, but that turned into over an hour. Many of my co-workers are closer to Mama’s age than mine, so they can find something to talk about, even if it’s reminiscing about old TV shows and arguing about who played Gidget: Sally Field or Sandra Dee. (When we got home, I looked it up, and it was Sandra Dee.)
But they greeted her warmly, as I knew they would. And they bragged on me so uniformly that I’m guessing she could see how much they respect me. More than one of them said “he keeps us in line.” Mama asked one of them, “Well, who keeps him in line?” “Nobody,” she replied.
And more than one told her that she had done a good job raising me. Coming from people very near her age with children as old or older than me, I’m sure those statements had more gravitas than if they had come from younger people.
But I’m pretty sure that she already knew that. Having that backed up by other people was nice, regardless.
I told one executive that I had living proof that I actually had a mother. My persona is a cynical man who could as easily have been spawned from Satan as given birth to by a human being. Nothing could be farther from the truth, in reality.
I’m a happy, realistic and optimistic man who hides behind a persona totally contrary to that cynical facade.
The people I work with know that, if they know me at all.
And the ones that do loved meeting Mama. We were there for so long that the window on getting to the LBJ Library closed. We’d have only have had an hour and a half or so before they closed. But she was enjoying herself, so I was happy.
It wasn’t the day I had planned, but it turned out pretty good.
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