A Mother’s Day memory

When my son was 12, he came to me about a month before Mother’s Day. He had figured out — all by himself — that the big day was coming up, and he was going to need some money to buy a gift.

Being too young to get a real job, he turned to the one ready resource he knew — good old Mom. At least he asked about “earning” money instead of asking me to “give” him money. I told him if he wanted to start receiving his allowance again, all he had to do was consistently complete the list of chores that we had developed a while back. They weren’t that hard — in fact, were very simple.

He wanted to know if he could mow the grass for $10. No way. The last time he was “hired” for that job, he got paid in advance for it (he HAD to have some money in a hurry to get the latest comic books for his collection) but never finished the job. Mom had to do it.

“OK, then. How about if I wash the car — inside and out — for $10?” I explained that I could get it done professionally for less than that

“Well, what if I wax it too?” OK, it’s a deal.

Of course, we didn’t have any of that special car soap or wax on hand. So, before he could complete his task to “earn” his money, I had to go out and buy the materials.

He also needed a lot of supervision and help. Not only did he not know how to wash or wax a car, he couldn’t reach the top of it.

He got his $10 because he worked really hard vacuuming the inside. Then he also received some money from the Easter bunny, so he had plenty for a simple Mother’s Day gift. Until he found something else to spend it on.

He decided he HAD to have a particular cassette. I said only if he paid for it himself, and he did. He also decided he HAD to rent a different video game one weekend because he was tired of the ones he had. I said only if he paid for it himself and he did.

I’m not sure how he pulled it off, but he managed to get me to pay him for work that I ended up doing so that he could buy a gift for me. Then he spent all the money on something else.

He did actually take me out to dinner that Mother’s Day. And I didn’t pay for it. He won a “dinner for two” at a Braves baseball game which someone else took him to and paid his way.

He said he immediately decided when he won it that he would give it to me for Mother’s Day. At least he was thinking and, after all, they say that’s what counts.

This story is part of “The Nathaniel Chronicles: A Columnist’s Bewildering, Crazy, Daunting, Wondrous, Jubilant Journey Through Motherhood.”