Mussels and Golf

by Carol Lee
(Palm Coast FL)

It is Mother's Day in 1985 and my two sons are 16 and 18 at the time. They have asked what I want for Mother's Day and I respond, "Nothing. I just want you to be fine young men." Since my youngest was about one and a half years old there has been no father / husband in the picture.

When my sons turned 16 they each received safe driving lessons (of course they wanted to get behind the wheel as soon as possible) and a set of used golf clubs. We all love the sport to this day.

It's a beautiful day and my youngest is taking me to the golf course for a round of golf on him. My oldest son says he wants to stay home, and cannot be coaxed into coming. We play a blissful round of golf, taking in the nice Springtime weather. I remember how green the fairways were and the forsythia in bloom and the azaleas starting to bud.

That I remember. For the love of me I can't remember how good or bad we played; or how many pars, birdies or bogeys we had. I do remember walking side by side and hole by hole with my son and enjoying every minute of it.

When we come home after a delightful day, I put my key in the door and the smell of tomatoes and garlic fills the air. My oldest son has the table set and ready. He has spent the afternoon preparing my favorite meal – mussels marinara over linguini. He cooked it to perfection and I can't recall a meal tasting so good.

I will always remember that Mother's Day gift, not only for the enjoyment of the sport and food I love, but how it boggled my mind that my sons had been planning this day on their own without any help from anyone and at such a young age.

That is a Mother's Day I will never forget.