Just got through editing our annual reader submissions for our Mother’s Day tribute. I love pulling together this package every year. It reminds me of how special Moms are, and how much I love my own mother. I also get a real kick out of the essays Pat McLaughlin’s third-grade students write. Kids never fail to crack me up. I’m the goofy uncle who riles up the kids at the family gatherings — enough so that I’m now admonished beforehand to rein it in a bit. It’s tough, though. I can’t help it. Something about the enthusiasm of kids brings out the kid in me and pretty soon I’m running wild too.

Anyway, I want to get in on the act too and offer up my own tribute to my Mom this year. One of my favorite anecdotes about my mother’s infinite wisdom involves a troubled grade school classmate of mine. One day while walking home from school, Mike creeped up behind me, tackled me and started wailing away. To this day I really don’t know why. All I can remember is how bizarre it seemed at the time because I hadn’t done anything to provoke it and it was in front of a huge crowd of students as classes had just let out.

A teacher — who would later be my math teacher — split us up and ordered us to the principal’s office the next morning. With a parent! Take it from me, a product of Catholic education, there’s nothing scarier than a ticked off nun running your school. That includes an angry parent. Yikes, I thought. I was the type who didn’t get in trouble so it was definitely unfamiliar territory and like anyone facing the unknown I was pretty spooked.

So when my Mom got home from work I told her what had happened and then sheepishly told her that she had to meet with the principal. My Mom, sensing how concerned I was, told me something I shall never forget: If you’re the type of person who always tells the truth then you’ll never have to worry when someone hurls false allegations at you. People will always take your side.

That helped.

And I never did have to meet with the nun who was my principal. It never got that far. She told my Mom that I had a reputation for good behavior and that they knew Mike started the fight. He got in trouble a lot.

I reminisced about this with Mom recently and she told me something else about that conversation that I either hadn’t recalled or did not know: The principal asked Mom if she wanted her to kick Mike out of school. Mom said, No, that’s all right. Just leave it be.

And then she reminded me of something else I had forgotten. Shortly after that I befriended Mike for a spell. He was mostly a loner who really seemed pretty angry most of the time. When I got to know him I gained a better understanding why — his parents were having some troubles, he told me, from what I recall. I think he felt that they didn’t love him, but I could tell that wasn’t the case. He seemed awfully depressed. But he had a wild attraction to mischief and, as I said, I was pretty much not the troublemaking type so I drifted away from him. A few years later, I heard that he had hanged himself and, well, it still deeply saddens me to this day. If only he knew how much his family loved him maybe it would have saved him.

I’m grateful that I understand how much my mother loves me. So here I am after a very long day at work typing these words; they’re not much but I hope my Mom knows how much I love her right back. Scratch that — I know she does.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!

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