Mother's Intuition

You ever think about the Christmas List?  When I was a kid, I made a list of things I wanted for Christmas.  I knew I wouldn't get all of them (sometimes hardly any of the specific things I mentioned) but I knew making a list was important.  It served to hype up the season and get myself excited, and it also served to let everyone know what I wanted.  Like many kids (or so I imagine) I always took great pride in my list.  I posted it front and center on the refrigerator for all to see, and I'd keep an eye out for people looking at it.  When Christmas rolled around, I was always happy with my gifts, though sometimes they weren't the ones on the list.  There was one thing that tied the gifts together though: Mom.  Either Mom directly bought it and gave it to me, or she had advised someone in what to get me, or cleverly disguised a gift from "Willie Mays" or whatever.  You could always tell the thought Mom put into buying Christmas gifts.

Her thought processes, though, ranged from the extremely cryptic to the flat out obvious.  I remember, once, receiving a call when I was 10 or so from my Mom in early December.

"Hi, Andy?"

"Yeah, Mom?"

"Uhh, yeah, do you like "War...craft?" 

"Yeah, I do, Mom."

"Oh, OK.  Do you like "Might...And...Magic?"

"Yeah...why do you ask?"

"Oh, I was just wondering." (Click)

Can't blame the lady for wanting to get it right.  Other times, though, it was mysterious.  I remember in College I got a printer.  It's a very nice printer; I still use it to this day.  It scans, copies, prints photos, and the ink is really affordable.  The thing is, though, that I never told anyone I needed a printer.  The printer I had at the time was a piece of junk that barely got the job done and was on its last legs  Come Christmas time, though, Mom gave me a printer though I had just barely realized I needed one.  Chalk that one up to Mother's Intuition I guess.

I think Moms are supposed to have an innate sense of knowing when their kids need something.  Being the fourth kid of the Patrick line, I think I reaped an intangible benefit of Mom having honed this skill through the years.  By the time I reached every age level, Mom was so well polished at the art of coming through in the clutch that I didn't even realize it was happening.  Things just went right, and that was the way of the world.  Even though she worked until at least 5:00, there was always a warm dinner at home at night.  Whenever practice had ended, there was always a ride ready to come get me.  Whenever I tore a hole in my shirt jumping over a fence to make prank phone c--I mean, jumping over a fence for fun and nothing else--there would always be another shirt there ready to take its place.  These may sound like trivial and obvious things, but I've started to realize that they aren't for everyone, and they didn't have to be.  If it weren't for Mom orchestrating all these things, then my childhood wouldn't have been as carefree as it was.

I wonder if Moms strive to get to the point where their kids don't even realize they're doing the things they're doing.  Mom always did everything without too much fanfare.  She never made a big deal about her birthday, or fished for thank yous at dinner, or anything like that.  She simply made sure it was done, and took joy in the fact that her family was safe and happy.  That's pretty amazing.  Maybe that's what Mother's Intuition is: just a practiced skill derived from knowing how to keep the family safe and happy.  If so, my Mom's pretty darn intuitive.