Lots has happened since Yumiko and I debuted Bad Mother Music last winter. In August, for example, my son came home from camp with a beard.
“Is that a God’s Eye you made in the craft cabin?”
“Yes.”
“Is that a full beard you grew on trail?”
“Yes.”
He started a night class in creative writing and let me edit his first assignment.
“What’s your poem about?”
“A dead opossum.”
“A+!”
Sometimes I ask what’s going on at school, like socially, and he gives me nothing. Recently he told me that every time I do that, I pick at my fingers. That’s how he knows I’m going to ask about his life but I’m going to try to stay cool like the cool mom. This was a great mother moment because it indicated that my son had keen powers of observation.
“I don’t do that.”
“Yes, you do.”
There was the great moment of realizing he could probably handle any crap any woman could throw at him. It was the morning of the biggest gig of my life, and I experimented with hair color. The result was bad. There was no time to fix it. During sound check, the kid, who also wore a band shirt and sold CDs all night, walked back into the cheap seats and caught my eye. He pointed to his hair, and then to me, and then made a thumbs-up. I would say that means he knows how to be a good man.
“…”
“It looks awesome.”
There was the great moment of saving his science grade. He said was getting a D because he didn’t have enough bugs. I said, go to the basement. He said, I already did. There’s nothing. I said, how about the globe from your ceiling fan?
“It’s been like ten years since I cleaned this out.”
“Sweet.”
Right now is the great moment of realizing there are lessons left to teach even though he’s as good as out the door. Recently I was grocery shopping and he was like, can you get ice cream? I said, well, have you broken up with anybody recently? Or has anybody broken up with you? No, he said.
“Ice cream is for breakups.”
“Can’t you just get it anyway?”
“No, honey, ice cream is what makes breakups special.”
Bad Mother Music, reprise
Saturday, Oct. 13, 4-5:30 p.m. at the Women and Spirituality Conference
Centennial Student Union Hearth Lounge
Minnesota State University, Mankato
Conference registration info is here. Or, you can just slip into our session. Subversive walk-ins are welcome. You know who you are.
ann rosenquist fee 
Cool- good,bad mother. What time is this? Sent from my iPhone
Saw the poster- know the time now!! Most fondly, A subversive walk- in
Sent from my iPhone
I loved this, grown sons are as sweet as little ones, and that’s a good thing to know. love, Val