"Mommy, I don't know
where they came from!" this 12 y/o Uptowner hesitantly first told his mom.
"You shouldn't be looking at those kinds of magazines!" my late Mom blurted out
about those girly pics that she found up on the back wall of the garage
"clubhouse" my older brother, David, and I had secretly set up—I used to
sometimes see these publications at the Tulane University Barber Shop where I
would occasionally get a trim with my late Daddy, who never got that kind of
stuff.
Mommy gave us both some backside pops!
As a kid, I used to find all kinds of things people would throw out for garbage
near Broadway and Spruce where we lived and sometimes especially on the ritzy
Audubon Boulevard.
Later that day after my conscious bothered me, I admitted to Mom that those old
magazines had been put out by Mr. Ronnie, a bachelor who lived by the old
Edmond's Grocery on Audubon Street and Cohn.
Mom discovered those pics in the clubhouse after David and I had gotten in
trouble the night before and had gotten a good whipping from Daddy.
David and I had had a sleepover with Gary and some other older teens whom we
accompanied after hours on a walk to Newcomb Boulevard, where they met up to
just chat with some girls they knew at Margaret's house.
Well on the way home on Broadway at around 2:30 a.m., with little traffic
insight but still being careful not to get caught after curfew, we get stopped
by some NOPD dudes and were taken home, awaking Dad and Mom.
Suffice it to say that David and I hugged the wall on our perspective bunk bed
spots to avoid this rare belt swiping as much as possible—Dad never had to
resort to that again!
Not long after these encounters, I did go to confess my waywardness to the late
Fr. Robert Boggs, SJ at Holy Name of Jesus; Mom was glad to know this prodigal
son had done this.
My buddy, Scott Vincent,
also once shared about a lesson he learned from his Mom and Dad when,
coincidentally, he was confronted about his own backsliding situation just as
the "Your Mother Should Know" song from the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour
was being played on his turntable!
And while I may chuckle at times reminiscing stories like this with buddies and
family, Mom did truly teach me many great lessons about respecting her true
beauty and that of other women like my own wife and daughter.
As a Catholic, I still have a great devotion to Mother Mary…
Happy Mother's Day to all…
