A memory out of season

The discovery, stuffed in the back of a file cabinet drawer, prompted a wave of feelings and made me smile; I knew I'd have to share the memory!

When you get an invitation to take part - in any aspect - of an adult child's life, trust me, you accept and do whatever it takes to make it work!

So the words, "Mom, I've got a piece in a Mothers Day Show; come on out for the opening" was music to my ears.

Take a day off from work and drive across the state?

No problem; I've got it!

Mothers...

Nothing emotionally laden in THAT theme, right??

Hours of drive time provided a lot of opportunity for anticipation to build.

And, for all those hours, images of 'mothering' floated through my head...

How wonderful that Art Boy was going to do some kind of homage to all the devotion and care I had lavished on him!!

Keep in mind these were the thoughts of a woman who gets teary when an actor 'Thanks his mum' during his Academy Award speech!

So, being ever resourceful, I packed Kleenex - just in case I got too ferklempt.

I wasn't delusional...
I didn't expect to be elevated to the divine - no matter how fitting it may be!

I was even willing to be portrayed in a (now) age appropriate way -

or with a look into the not so distant future!

So many ways to depict our relationship... a veritable smorgasbord of possibilities!

Walking in to the gallery that night, when some people passed by me, laughing, smiling pointedly and looking at me in recognition, I assumed Art Boys work was so 'spot on', my moment of celebrity as 'the Artist Mom' was now firmly established. I couldn't wait to see it!

And, turning the corner, there it was... 5 FEET by 7 FEET - bigger than lifesize... with the title:
"My Mother dated Michael Jackson".

WTF???
A perfectly good church directory picture from back in the day - blown up beyond any parameters Olin Mills ever dreamed of - with the King of Pop (not to mention perversion) plopped right in the midst of us!

A single mom with two young boys - oh, and to make matters worse - a single mom who has devoted her life to protecting children from the likes of 'the one gloved wonder', here, making her children accessible to the very forces she battles every day.

(Don't even go there about he was never found guilty... I've read the transcripts, seen the children's testimony - and juries are stupid!)

Yeah...totally hadn't seen that coming!

Thank goodness, I had the kleenex ... they made a perfect disguise.

The kid is totally outside the box!
Can't, for the life of me, figure out who he got THAT from!!