Moms never forget, and neither will you

It doesn’t require a special day, such as Mother’s Day, for him to be immersed in memories of her because, truth be told, she’s never left his mind though she’s been gone since 2012.

So tomorrow, as he looks around the table at the beautiful young adults their kids turned out to be, one memory is sure to make him smile. It always does. He’s a writer, and as any writer can tell you there are times when a perfect word or phrase suddenly pops into mind like a gift from an unseen sender.

Consider the late, great songwriter Stuart Hamblen. In a midnight burst of inspiration he wrote “It Is No Secret” in 17 minutes. As its popularity soared and he heard it sung by Johnny Cash, Judy Collins, Mahalia Jackson, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and so many others, it overwhelmed him.

“I never knew how to claim ownership of something that big,” he said. “Then one night in a little country church a lady came over to me said, ‘Mr. Hamblen, you didn’t write that song; you just got to hold the pen.’ “I believe she was right.” That’s the belief here, too. About 20 years ago a father who had run away with his two young daughters was finally located. Now stunning young women, they had grown up being told their birth mother didn’t want them, so, sitting just feet away from her in a courtroom, they wouldn’t even look at her.

The writer, not sure how to capture what he was seeing, called his wife and asked if there was something the birth mother would have remembered that the father’s girlfriend couldn’t have known.

“She’d remember being told there was a baby inside her,” she replied. “She’d remember the first time that baby rolled over, and the first time it kicked, and the first time it was placed in her arms. She’d remember the first time it stood up, and the first tooth ... ”

Then her voice began to crack, which surprised him.

“You never forgot that stuff?” he asked.

“A mother never forgets that stuff,” she said.

The writer was soon awash in compliments telling him how sensitive he was, though he knew the truth was that he, like Hamblen, had just gotten to hold the pen.

He’ll be thinking about those first kicks and first teeth as he looks around the table tomorrow, thanking God again for the magnificent mother his kids had.

If you’ve got one, too, make sure you let her know it.