When you become the parent.

Agent Daddy Again pinch hitting for the "MOM" When asked to do this again, I was somewhat perplexed on what to write. So, I decided to write about something that was near and dear to my heart...my MOM. After 50 years as a couple, my father passed away in 2007 from complications of a stroke he suffered two years earlier. PLEASE, SMOKING & A POOR DIET will add up to no good in the long run, so please be careful, but I digress.

Having to deal with the aftermath, I soon realized  that my mother was no longer my mother, but an irresponsible seventeen-year old girl in the body of a 67 year old women, with financial resources. In the movie, "As Good As It Gets" Jack Nicholson's character plays a very successful but neurotic writer. He was asked in the movie by a female fan, "How do you write women so well?" His response, "I think of a man, and I remove reason and accountability."  A funny line if you're a guy, but not so funny if your living it.

Being the only child (in a Catholic Family, that's already odd) , the responsibility fell on me... "Honor your Mother and your Father" After seeing my mother in action, or lack there of in the day to day operations of the house, I did not realize how much my late father did for my mother.

Throughout my childhood, I saw MOM write the checks to pay the bills. This led me to believe, erroneously, that she was responsible and could manage finances. Dealing with my now widowed mother I now see that is "ALL" my father would let her do, because money to her is like shoes to Imelda Marcos, water to a water park, a bag of M&M's at the M&M Store, there will always be more.

The hardest with her is the strange logic that I have to address, like "I went to the casino to get more money," On multiple occasions, I would have to explain to her, after she lost THOUSANDS of dollars, that Casino's are not  ATM's . They are  known for taking money,not giving it.

Another instance is when she bought a newer car, her first without my father. Weeks later she calls me in a snit and is insisting that her car is broken, and she wants to return it, because it now won't start. Knowing that it was given a full multi-point inspection and a new battery when she bought it, I tried it my self, and it started right away. This repeats again a week later. I do the same and it starts. Perplexed my mother asked me what I was doing. I showed her. With a look of amazement, she asked, "Do you really have to push the gas pedal every time you turn the key?" She has been driving for over 40 years and she is JUST figuring this out?

I could go on, but I think you get the gist. I do not want to embarrass my mother, though I doubt she would ever read this. My wife was trying to explain pull down menus and point & click to her. Her job is going completely paperless, and Mamalicious was trying to get her comfortable with computers before her classes started. Computers already scar the crap out of her, but she doesn't have a choice any longer to not learn. Forgive me for sounding sexist, but she says to me "I might break my nails" When my wife suggested that she could cut them to a more manageable length she looked horrified and asked me "Do I really have to cut them down?" I assured her that she would be fine if she cut her nails.

Thanks to my late father's example, I am being the dutiful son, but with ever expanding gray hairs.So remember, sometimes your other child, not the one you brought home from the hospital, but the one who brought you home, is just as much trouble. But what are you going to do, it's MOM.