as published at www.ocregister.com on May 9, 2012:
For my second grade Halloween party, my mom—our room mom-- thought it would be fun to read the kids a scary yet sweet story: "Lamont the Lonely Monster."
But when the day of the party came, my classmates opted to spend the hour watching video footage of the recent play we’d performed instead of having story time. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.
But it was to me, because I had some insider information: I knew that my mom was an incredible artist who had stayed up late for three nights painting and binding posterboard-sized illustrations of Lamont the Lonely Monster so the entire class could see the pictures better. I knew that my mom wouldn’t just read the story to us, but she would give each character a unique monster voice, and Lamont’s lonely drone would carry the story as the best of all. And I knew that my mom had seven other kids besides me and this was my turn—my only year—to have her as my room mom and read my class a scary Halloween story with all of her theatrics and presentation.
So when the teacher announced my class’s impetuously vain decision to watch a video of themselves instead, I started to cry. I looked toward my mom’s face, knowing the sacrifice and talent she had poured into this moment. But my mom...
To read the rest:
Ode to my mom: Mac truck of child-bearing - OC Moms - The Orange County Register
