Stressing your mom out

A friend and I were discussing our patterns for dealing with stress on Twitter (hehe - 140 characters ... heckuva discussion! Demands precision dialog). She ended it by saying that she inevitably called her mom.

My first thought was, "I'm so glad you do that. I wish I still could." Because you see, I want to tell every young woman out there to treasure the moments you have with your mom because all of a sudden, some day she'll be gone. And there won't be any new moments ... only memories.

But, that was quickly replaced by a memory (see, I told you!)

I was 22 years old, living 6 1/2 hours away from home in Spencer, IA working at my first, real job - Christian Ed and Music Director at a Methodist church. Mom and I were really close friends and our phone bills were fairly unhealthy. One night I was out of control stressed. I remember that I was having trouble getting my apartment warm enough in the middle of a northwestern Iowa winter, I had dealt with something 'unfun' at an education meeting at church and my senior pastor was pushing me to do some things I was completely uncomfortable with.

I called mom up and totally unloaded all of my fears and frustrations on her. We talked for a few minutes and then, I had to go to another meeting. I left, did the meeting, came home and went to bed. You see, after I unloaded it all on her, I was fine! I just needed someone to talk to.

Before dawn the next morning, my phone was ringing. Now, this was in the day and age of phones being attached to a wall (1983) and the only phone in the apartment was in the kitchen. It had a 20 foot cord on it, but I did have to get out of bed to answer it. I was just sure something terrible had happened. Oh yah ... it had. Mom was completely freaked out and worrying about me. I don't know what she thought I was going to do, but she hadn't slept all night. By 6 am, she was a wreck.

Of course, I had slept soundly and had completely forgotten the conversation. As I listened to her yell at me, I just giggled. This is what love is all about! She finally calmed down enough to listen to me and I explained that I was all better after talking to her. I think she told me I could never do that to her again.

The next thing I did to her? A tornado ripped through Spencer one night. I sat in my bathtub and called her. When I told her that I wanted someone to know if I died, she wasn't terribly impressed. But, she stayed on the phone with me until the storm passed. It ripped homes apart 1/2 block away from my apartment. I waited awhile to tell her that part of the story.