I must be back in New York. I backslid into sloughing off on my Five Minute Friday assignment until Saturday — late Saturday afternoon at that. Oh well. It’s the thought that counts and the effort to post something sometime.

You know the drill. I’ll post, link at Kate’s place (http://katemotaung.com/2017/05/11/five-minute-friday-mom/) and scan through the incredible work of my fellow writers. And, as I always say, you should try it as well — both writing and contributing or at least visiting the sites of this talented crew.

I’ve also been sharing other takes on the value of the exercise, taken from snippets found in Five Minute Friday: A Collection of Stories Written in Five Minutes Flat as an added inducement to join in. Here’s Jen’s take.

“Through FMF, I not only found a community online, but I found the courage to seek one out in real life too. And, through both, my life has changed radically for the better!”

So, let’s get into this week’s word, appropriately MOM. But, before we do, a very Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms and strong women in our lives! The timer is set, so let’s GO …

I have fond memories of my Mom. I had a good relationship with her and, as an only son, probably got away with a lot more than I should have. But as they say, “A son is a son till he takes a wife, a daughter’s a daughter the rest of her life.”

So I’m reflecting on Karen as Mom as an outsider looking at my wife’s incredible role as mother. I had a 40 year tutorial with her as opposed to about 21 with my Mom. I would say Mom paved my relationship and Karen refined it.

Was Karen perfect? No. She was a complex woman … sometimes child-like and other times speaking with the wisdom that came with maturity … vulnerable yet strong … compassionate and passionate … anxious yet content … realistically optimistic … unconditionally loving and caring … sentimental yet grounded … cheerful and sad … content yet restless … accomplished … relaxed and stressed … insecure yet secure … self-effacing yet confident.

We all hurt her in so many ways. She may have written some of them down, but she never counted them. In the end, it was her love that shined through.  I saw her love her children with all her heart.

She was always worrying about the kids … even when they went on their own — perhaps even more! She didn’t necessarily push the brood, but you sure knew what she was thinking.

And they respected her. I wouldn’t allow disrespect.

… STOP

… From the outside looking in, I could see she was perhaps harder on the girls. But it balanced itself out because I was harder on the boys. When Karen died, it was hard on all of them … but the girls grieved and moved on quicker. The boys had a much harder time. They all say at one point, “Remember what Mom …”

I would say mission accomplished.

THOUGHT TO REMEMBER: Leadership isn’t making all the decisions. It is making sure the right decisions are made. — Andy Stanley