Mother's Day 2014

Chuck woke up with a plan very early on Sunday morning. He sat up, smiled, and got ready.

I quickly showered, shaved, and dressed in casual clothes and hurried out the door without wasting time. I had planned this for a few weeks and wanted it to be a surprise for my women as well as a surprise for a couple of women I considered my surrogate mother.

I pulled a huge ice chest from the Expedition I borrowed from Steve. I made up vases with the mixed red and white roses, and brought them into the house to place along the long counter between the kitchen and the family room. Peaches was the first in line, followed by Aunt Etta, then Mesa, Gina's mother, and one for Julie, although she was someone else's mom. The next five were grouped together, since how do you ever separate the Fab Five? Next were Taiying, Sing, Maria, and Gina.

I put cards next to each vase with the kids' names inside the cards. Knowing how much each of the kids, including Peaches', meant to me made me smile. I had cards for the girls' mothers but I would give those to them later.

I now had to run to the patio in a cart with vases of flowers and a bunch of cards.

I knew that Glenda would be early, as always, and put her vase, flowers, and card on the table where she always sat with Steve in the morning. Next I put cards on the big table for all of the mothers I knew. Steve's women, Sal's two mothers, Susan, Beth, and Missy, as well as a few of the women I knew to be mothers who enjoyed being with the family.

I had made arrangements for flowers and a card to be delivered to Brandy's, Tiani's, Judy's, and Nancy's mothers, as well as Kai and Mylee in Hawaii. I figured I had it done. Well at least almost done.

I rushed back to the house and went into the studio to get my Blues King out of the closet, and sat on the stool next to the good microphone hung near the control booth. I set the equipment in the booth, then played and sang a few bars as I adjusted the sound levels for the lower mic to pick up the guitar and for if the level of my voice.

I checked the sound quality in the booth and set the controller to 'record', not 'sample'.

Back in the studio, I unfolded the piece of paper I carried with me and put it on the music stand in front of me. I played the music running around in my head through my fingers on my guitar. I played the introduction and the theme all the way through and began the theme again. As the theme began, I began my song that was more like a conversation with those listening about my mother.

The first time through wasn't that good, so I did the intro all over again and began to gently sing the words and this time they came smooth and sounded sincere the second time through the theme.

When was that first memory of my mother as a little boy?

I remember how my mother was always chasing me like a toy.

It's why I always try to remember those loving moments when I was a little boy;

When I ask myself, when was that first memory of my mother when I was a little boy?

I walked into the control booth with wet eyes to listen to what I had recorded. It wasn't bad, but it needed something to finish with.

I tried to think for a minute of what more I wanted to say, and remembered this is also for those that are mothers now, my ladies. So I typed from my heart hoping that I could amend the music I had created.

Back in the studio, I went through the theme and instantly knew that I could add the simple lyrics that I had just created. I had to turn the controller back to the record mode and set it up for a second recording so that I still had the good original if I didn't like this one.

I did the first part as well as I had the first time and added:

And now the mothers of my children gather together to share the joys of motherhood.

These women are more than lovers, they are mothers.

These are the mothers who now give life and love to my babies and children.

Happy Mother's Day to them and to all mothers.

Something still wasn't right, so I went to the controller and played it back and listened. The music was perfect and my voice was sincere and at the right pitch. It dawned on me that I needed to add what was a loose hook before the close.

I pushed the record button again, went back into the studio, and sat on the stool, played the intro, and then sang it all with a different last part:

And now the mothers of my children gather together to share with the joy of being moms.

These women are more than lovers, they are mothers.

These mothers are giving that first loving memory to their little girls or boys.

Happy Mother's Day to them and to all mothers.

I finished the theme, closed it, and rushed into the control booth to listen. I was pleased with how it sounded. It felt like I was singing to my ladies.

Looking at the clock, I realized it was just after six so the little ones would soon be coming around. I wanted to be inside when they awoke, so I used the controller to print two dozen copies of the simple song. I put my guitar away and shut the rest of the studio down while the new controller was printing the music.