Sunnyside Up

“Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children.”—William Makepeace Thackery

Whenever my mother saw that I was down or upset she would always smile and say “Up, up, up!"

Her voice took on a musical quality as she tried to lift my spirits and today on Mother’s Day I can't help but think of that little phrase and her beautiful smile.

She always looking out for me and my siblings.

If she saw a newspaper article that she thought we would find helpful she got out the scissors and started snipping away. There was no emailing URLs back in those days.

One time she bought a book for me called “Overcoming Regret: Lessons from the Road Not Taken” because she saw that I was struggling with the choices I had made in my life.

I know I had read that book, but it’s been so long I don’t remember a word. Since regret is once again muscling its way into my life as my 65th birthday approaches, I thought it might be a good idea to reread this 1992 volume.

All I had to do is find it.

I finally began cleaning up my computer room on Saturday in hopes I might come across “Overcoming Regret” amid all the books, pamphlets, magazines, papers and other sorts of crap that I’ve accumulated over the decades.

I didn’t get too far in this mission, and I regret to say that I didn’t find the book, but I did discover a small clay mask my mother made God knows how many years ago.

Up, Up, and Away

My mother loved working with clay, and I have a few of her pieces in my home.

This particular mask had gotten lost amongst all the junk in my house and when I went to pick it up, I saw that it was broken in two pieces.

I don’t know how this happened and, of course, I took myself on a first-class guilt trip for breaking my mother’s handiwork.

That routine gets old real fast so I decided to take this broken mask and put it back together. It seemed to be a clean break; all I need was the proper glue.

Yes, the proper glue. Unfortunately, the local CVS only had this glue stick that is probably best suited for grammar school art projects, but I bought the stuff anyway hoping I could make the magic happen.

I wish I could give you a happy ending here, but when I pressed the two pieces together, I must’ve pressed too hard because I suddenly had three pieces—and a sick feeling in my stomach.

What kind of idiot does something like this? You tried to repair something and you only succeeded in making things worst.

Forget about overcoming regret, I was wallowing in it. But then I heard my mother’s voice calling out that little phrase.

“Up, up, up!”

I had made a mistake, but I know if my mother were here she would forgive me in an instant.

And I’m not giving up. I’m going to get the right type of glue and I’m going put those three pieces back together again.

I may never find “Overcoming Regret” but I’m not going live in misery until I do.

You can give a gift to someone even if they’re no longer here and the greatest present I can give to my mother is to be happy and to live in a way that honors her memory.

Happy Mother’s Day.