Remebering

When I was young my mother was poor. My father was not in the picture much. My mom could not afford cable TV, but she knew my sister and I both really loved the Muppets Show. The only thing better than the Muppets show, is the Muppets movie…the original 70’s version. You see Jim Henson tapped into a very special part of us kids. There was no Muppet that was ordinary, except Kermit, and even he was just happy being green though he told us all that it wasn’t an easy job. It was existentialism on its most preschool level. It spoke to children in a way I don’t see being done anymore. So long before I ran into Hemingway or Melville or Cooper, it was all about the Muppets and Sesame Street of course. Oh, wait, and Mr. Rogers. Yes I did like his show. Where else can a kid see how vinyl records and trombones are made…or crayons. I mean shit, the man had a train come through his house and deliver him messages. So anyways…the Muppets. My mom knew we loved them and we had never been able to see the movie when it was in theaters. So she saved here and there. She had heard that the movie was going to be aired on HBO. So she subscribed without telling us. Then she invited all of our friends over for a party. She bought a cake with Kermit and Miss Piggy depicted in sweet sweet colored frosting on the top. The day was glorious. We all watched the movie and ate cake and cookies and ice cream. We gave ourselves stomach aches and laughed in the afternoon, while our single mothers sipped Tab and ‘talked story’ as they say in the islands. Than afternoon, you could have told me that I have the best mom in the world. I would have smiled and said yes. But I didn’t really know it. I didn’t think about those things. I took whatever kindess given or showed to me for granted the way all children do. Now though, I look back and realize that my mother was selfless. When she had children, she started living for them and sacrificed anything and everything for them. It brings to mind another instance in which my mother was a shining example of a selfless parent. When I was a bit older the film ET came out. She took me to a downtown Honolulu theater to see it. After the movie I was so thrilled and pleased within my little world. I remember thinking that when ET got sick he looked an awful lot like dog poo does when it gets really old and no one picks it up. But my mother walked me out of the theater and I stopped and looked one last time at the poster for the film. The movies images ran over and over again in my mind. My mother looked down at me and asked me if I liked the movie. She knew the answer. Then she asked if I would like to see it again.