The Three Minute Grandparent: Feeling Rich

The Three Minute Grandparent: Haunting

What haunts you? 

What pursues you?  Are you forced to face something time after time?  No, this is not a ghost story; it concerns what is on a child’s mind.  A child is haunted by Mother.  Haunt has layered meanings; to be preoccupied with or obsessed with.  A child is preoccupied with or obsessed with his/her Mother all of the time.  The picture of Mother comes to mind when hunger strikes, when a toy breaks, when the bathroom door is closed and Mother is behind it, or when a large dog barks.  Mother is always in the mind of a child whether in the forefront or lurking behind the latest adventure. 

The needs of a child center on Mother even when building with Leggos, bathing the dog, planting a garden with Dad or having a fun ride in the car.  A slight change in plans, a cut finger, or anything out of the ordinary brings the picture of Mother to the mind of a child.  In a figure of speech, a child is haunted by his/her Mother because Mother is the God-given figure of love and care.  Gradually, the child will grow out of an obsessive preoccupation with Mother, but throughout the lifetime of a child, teenager, and adult, the picture of Mother will emerge when events move in unlikely ways or when a smell wafts across your face and one travels back in time to simpler times with Mother.  The memories or haunting of Mother are imprinted in our minds and we become children all over again.  May I be haunted forever by my Mother.