Phone conversations with my mom
Posted by Dennis Anderson on Jan 31st, 2007
Julie and I have two sons, ages 14 and 10.
So when she asked me the other day, “Do most men like their mothers?” I thought she was setting me up. Why not just ask me if her butt looked big in her new pair of jeans?
I just went for it.
“There are two types of men,” I said sarcastically, “those who love their mothers unconditionally because they still do their laundry and make them meals, and independent guys like me.”
OK, I’ll try to explain.
I think I have a great relationship with my mother, who lives 500 miles away. Julie talks with her about once a week and then over dinner she summarizes the discussion for me. I get caught up on all the family news and learn about her latest aches and pains, all without losing 20 minutes worth of my time.
Well, let me try to explain again.
I’m not a phone guy. Put me in the same room with a group of family members and I’m happy. On the phone, I get distracted. There’s the game on TV, the magazine I’m flipping through and the thread that’s sticking out of my sock.
Some people can go on an on about nothing. Me, I need a purpose to my discourse.
My son Thomas, the 10-year-old, is the opposite. He can get on the phone with my mother and talk for hours about ... well, nothing. I once heard them talk for 15 minutes about how he transfers songs from the computer onto his iPod. See? They were having a conversation about nothing.
“Be kind,” Julie says when I happen to be in the room when my mother calls and asks to speak with me. I try. By the time my mother gets around to talking about the witch at the insurance company or Auntie Flori’s gas pains, I’m wondering how Alex Rodriguez missed that last pitch that was right over the plate.
Maybe I should try to explain myself again.
The question was, “Do most men like their mothers?” Well, they do. It’s just that once life gets the best of you, and the Yankees are five games back of the Red Sox, and you have to get ready for that important meeting, you sometimes forget about how you got where you are.
You know what? I better go call my mom.
And Julie, those new jeans look great.
at 9:26 a.m.
I think my ex liked his mother but he'd always make me talk to her on the phone, too, while he'd watch the game or whatever. I did it,but all I could think of was how rotten I'd feel if my kids pawned me off to their spouses when I called in my old age, just wanting to talk to them.
at 9:38 p.m.
i'm the one who talks to my mother-in-law on the phone, buys her birthday presents, REMEMBERS her birthday. I do it because i've always done it. I should've never started but it's too late. Without me, her son would be on her sh*t list. I, too, will be really upset if my son doesn't bother to talk to me when I call because a game is on. Geez.