By Alan Shore
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I remember that it was many years ago, as it must have been back around 1959 or 1960. I was about five or six years old. One day my mother took me to the Pinefield Shopping Center—as it was called in our small town in Framingham, Massachusetts—as she had to run some errands there.
In that shopping center, there was what we would now call an old-fashioned drug store that had a soda fountain. At that soda fountain, a person could get a soda or a milkshake or what is known throughout New England as a frappe along with a hot dog or a hamburger or a sandwich.
My mother, who was born and raised in Philadelphia, was brought up in a very poor family and, often, did not have enough to eat. I remember that she told me how, as a child, she often walked to school hungry.
I was a skinny little kid and, although my mother made sure I did have enough to eat, I did not like to eat very much as is so often the case with children. Well, on this trip to the shopping center my mother took me to the soda fountain in the drug store and bought me a huge hamburger and a chocolate frappe. She also promised to buy me a toy if I finished the burger.
I still remember my mother holding the burger up to my mouth and lovingly telling me to take another bite. Eventually, after much coaxing by my mother, I did finish the burger and, as I was the apple of my mother’s eye, she did gladly buy me a toy.
My mother bought me a pair of bright red sunglasses with gold police cars on the temples. This was my first pair of sunglasses and I remember sitting in the back of my mother’s 1955 Chevrolet Biscayne feeling really cool and special while wearing those sunglasses. My mother always had a way of making me feel really good about myself.
Well, time passed and we all got older. I remember that I was in my 20s and I happened to tell my mother that I remembered the time with the red sunglasses. My mother smiled and told me that she remembered it, too. I also noticed a tear in her eye as she realized how fondly I remembered it. She told me that she always tried to be really good to me and my brother. I replied to her that I knew that and that she had greatly succeeded. This made her beam with pride as she knew how much I loved her for the wonderful mother that she was.
My mother passed away back in 1981. I still have many fond memories of her, and I am happy that I did get the chance to let her know I remembered that specific time, and to thank her for it.
I learned a lot from this. I learned how to be a good father to my children as my mother was to me. I can still feel my mother’s love and I always carry it with me and share it not only with my children, but with everyone that I meet.
I have learned that in a person’s lifetime there can be many loves of different types that come and go, but a mother’s love lives on forever.
About the Author:
ALAN SHORE was born and raised in a small town called Framingham in Massachusetts. At age 11, his family moved to Philadelphia, where he went to school and subsequently attended and graduated from Temple University. Alan worked as a corporate accountant for many years. Alan has traveled extensively and still, as a senior citizen, travels every chance he can get. He enjoys art, baseball, travel, good literature, and cooking healthy food.
