Keeping Us Safe from Lions

I spent last week in Oklahoma making arrangements to sell my parents' house.

On the drive down, I was thinking about a story my mother told during a visit from my kids, shortly before her death. The incident took place when they were little and were staying with her. My youngest, Donald, was having trouble with bed wetting at the time. Jim would go in during the night, wake him up, and take him to the bathroom. Her method worked, and I think both she and Donald felt proud of themselves.

Anyway, one night when Jim went in to wake Donald for his regular trip to the bathroom, he was having a nightmare. Jim asked him what it was about and he told her that lions were chasing him. Jim said to him, "Now Donnie, don't you worry. No lions are going to get you while I'm here."

Later, while I was driving Donald to the airport, he told me that he remembered that night when Jim promised him that she could protect him from the lions. His comment was, "I believed her, too!"

That's the way Jim was. She made you believe she would take on anyone or anything to protect you. When I was a child I actually felt sorry for people who tangled with my mother, like the teacher who tried to tell her I didn't need any outside help learning to read, or the one who waited until school was out to call to tell her I had hurt my arm in a fall. In fact, I was reluctant to tell Jim any of my troubles at school or in the neighborhood, for fear it would set her off.
I was an overprotected child. As I grew older Jim decided which of my friends were a bad influence, and when I started dating, which of my girlfriends weren't good enough for me. This caused a lot of arguments at first, and even estrangement later on, because Jim couldn't force herself to see me "ruining my life."

It's not that I wasn't welcome at home. I always got plenty of affection and sympathy from my mother because of what I was "going through."

As I thought about the lions, I suddenly realized how much my mother loved me. She spent her life worrying about me, and she would have fought lions if that's what it took to defend me. No one will ever love me that much again.