Home › Opinion & Editorial › Columnists
Jeff Lytle: When it comes to advice on life, Mom always has known best
STORY TOOLS
RELATED STORIES
More Columnists
- The Farmer File: Facts about the bank brouhaha
- Thomas Sowell: Politicians’ solutions to financial mess will make things worse
- Jay Ambrose: Our lives would be much poorer without newspapers
Share and Enjoy [?]
Surely the bee was dead.
Central Pennsylvania swarms with moving, live, stinging bees come summer, and this particular lawn specimen was still, dead and harmless.
“Yes, honey,” the mother told her toddler, eager to load the bee into his red toy dump truck. “You can play with it. That bee is dead.”
Turns out, the death pronouncement was premature, and the tyke let out a bee-sting bellow that still, well over a half-century later, bounces around Altoona, Pa., 100 miles east of Pittsburgh.
In the years to follow, there would be weightier safety advice from the mother. “Watch out for those freak waves” would temper the wanderlust of the boy and his big brother and sister on vacation at the New Jersey shore.
“Watch out for your teeth” would come as the boys discovered baseball.
“I’m glad you kids think I’m so funny,” countered the giggles.
Her admonitions keep coming — along with home-front news reports that sound impossible at first, yet always turn out to be true.
She has the last laugh on the boys. The older one is Mel. The younger is Jeff.
On this Mother’s Day, let me tell you about Jane.
She rocks.
She is the glue of the family.
While dad was out fighting a war overseas and fires at his lumber dealership, her career was and remains looking after the kids — now including grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
A pillar of the old school, she never drove a car.
She is a natural, flowing writer with flawless penmanship, starting every letter with the latest developments in the weather.
She does not take naps; she rests her eyes.
She deftly directs the family action while appearing to be a mere cast member.
She is infinitely quotable on any subject:
Pride: “Remember who you are.”
Accountability: “You know what’s best.”
Assertiveness: “Don’t take any guff.”
Hygiene: “Floss.”
Challenge: “Aim high.”
Accuracy: “Now let me write this down.”
Clarity: “N-O, no.”
Being up to date: “I’m no square.’’
Diplomacy: “Not at this time.”
Mystery: “Not in this world.”
Summation: “So that’s the story.”
Hope: “Your day will come.”
Good sense: “Be nice to your mother.”
Trouble: “Jeffrey Frank Lytle!”
At first I didn’t know what she meant when I would straggle home from summertime jobs washing dishes and janitoring, and she would say “Study.”
In terms of today’s big buzz words — parental involvement, attentiveness and values — she is a Renaissance woman, now 84.
Though dad held court when necessary, I didn’t fear her wrath as much as I dreaded disappointing or upsetting her.
If there are two things she will not abide, they are lying and skating around opportunities to use God-given talents.
When we talk today on the phone, it is bound to come up that it’s a shame family members have to be so far apart.
I will try to tell her what I am trying to tell you — how lucky I am to be her son.
Happy Mother’s Day.
---
This column was first published in 1999. The Boston Red Sox have since won their third and fourth World Series in her lifetime. She worked the crowd at her 90th birthday party.
Today mom is 93 and lives in the same house that she and Bud, who passed away at age 88 in 2001, moved into when the kids moved out.
She still follows the news, wrestles with her hearing aid and runs the family.
Jane rocks.
So that’s the story.
Jeff Lytle is editorial page editor of the Daily News. His e-mail address is jflytle@naplesnews.com. Call him at 263-4773.
If you live in a condominium or homeowner association that has a director who is in arrears in his or her association fees, we want to hear about it. Please write to 
Comments
This site does not necessarily agree with comments posted below. Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. Break our rules, and we will ban you. No exceptions, no second chances. Read our privacy policy & user agreement.
Your mother must be so proud of the effete weasel you've become.
#1 Posted by lynncon on May 11, 2008 at 3:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Post your comment
(Requires free registration.)