The Mother Load (Remembering Erma Bombeck)

On this Mother's day I could not help but think of Erma Bombeck and her prolific humorous columns and books on the everyday pitfalls and joys of being a mom.   When I look back on my childhood I realize my own poor mother probably did not know what she had given birth to.   I admit I was an odd child.   By age five I had declared my undying love for Dolly Parton and had memorized a good portion of the lyrics to her biggest hits.   In kindergarten I played Wonder Woman, running around, spinning from Diana Prince into Wonder Woman, playing a pretty mean air magic lasso and putting foil on my wrists to deflect bullets.   I can't imagine why the other boys wanted to beat me up.   By third grade I was hopelessly addicted to Judy Blume books and Nancy Drew mystery novels.   I admit I didn't quite understand everything I was learning while reading Judy Blume's classic "Are You There God, It's Me Margaret," but I was hooked!   By fifth grade I had discovered Erma Bombeck.  I first heard her on Good Morning America one morning when I had stayed home sick from school.   She made me laugh and I was instantly attached to her.   I found out she wrote a column and drove my mom nuts trying to track down a news paper that might carry her column, at the time our local paper only carried columns by Ann Landers and yes, Billy Graham.  

Realizing my mom could not track down a newspaper with Erma's column every week made me put on my thinking cap for a solution to feed my need for more Erma in my young budding literary mind and so I headed out to the library and found her articles that way.   It was while I was walking out of the library one day that my eye caught the name "Erma," on a book's spine on a stack return cart as I neared the exit.  I spun around and to my delirious surprise it was an Erma Bombeck.   It was called, "Aunt Erma's Cope Book," and I quickly checked it out.  My love for Erma's brand of home spun humor hooked me.   I guess when you are running around pretending to be Wonder Woman during  PE and reading Judy Blume, Nancy Drew, and Erma Bombeck it is pretty hard to fit in, so I never tried.   If the price of being able to read these delicious books was getting picked on, I could survive.   Besides, I always had Erma to cheer me up.

As much as Erma pointed out the less than joyous rigors of being a mother, I felt like she helped bring about insight into a mother's life all the while with her rye brand of humor.   I got it and I think it helped me understand a little bit of what my own mother might be going thru.  

During my mother's day call to my mom today we took little trips down memory lane remembering the absurd as well as the sweet moments  it reinforced Erma Bombeck's important place not only as a legendary humorist but also her own gift to mothers for years to come.   A gift of being able to see someone else's shared experiences in child rearing and marriage and the gift of being able to laugh at themselves.  A gift of celebrating the importance of motherhood as well as deflating some of the seriousness of the job.  

Re-reading some of Erma's writing today I am so glad I was that weird little boy in my elementary school.   I feel like I kind of won the mother load:  a good mom and a healthy respect in my early introduction to the one and only Ms. Erma Bombeck.   Happy Mother's day Mom, and Happy Mother's day Erma, I thank you both!