Remember the Moms

[00:00:09] Hey everybody, I'm Larry Little. And I'm Melissa Jackson. Thank you for listening to the Crossing the Line podcast

[00:00:14] where we talk about those moments in our lives when we cross that line from our head to our heart and our heart to our head and

[00:00:21] Today we're going to be talking about a heart issue because we are celebrating Mother's Day, Melissa. Yes, we are

[00:00:26] I'm excited that we're slowing down to really focus on the women in our life that have really made a difference

[00:00:32] We're really invested in this. You know, it's so impactful

[00:00:35] I think sometimes we take for granted those women who influenced our lives, who nurtured us, cared for us,

[00:00:42] led us, gave us wisdom. So speaking of what's going on for Mother's Day with you?

[00:00:48] Yes, I am hoping for Mother's Day that we're gonna have some time because I need a new pair of tennis shoes.

[00:00:55] So my goal is that I can have some time with my family and maybe get a pair of tennis shoes.

[00:01:02] I hope you get those tennis shoes, Melissa. You have a beautiful daughter who turns 12. She is turning 12.

[00:01:08] She is turning 12. I know her and I know Ellie well. I think she's gonna take care of you.

[00:01:13] You know what? That little lion will do something and we'll see what it is.

[00:01:19] I'm hoping for a homemade car. I'm hoping for a pair of tennis shoes. So we'll see what happens.

[00:01:25] There it is. You know, you got me thinking because moms are so important. Women who played that role are so important.

[00:01:33] But the truth is for some of us it can be a difficult season as well

[00:01:38] if we've lost a mom recently or even in the past that brings back those memories of

[00:01:45] love and it can be hard.

[00:01:48] But generally as we celebrate, as we celebrate the love that these women

[00:01:54] have given. In fact, they're the cornerstone of the real fiber I think of who we are as a society.

[00:02:02] And I think it's right to stop and honor them. I think it's right to say,

[00:02:07] we love you and appreciate what you've done because you had to get to where we were

[00:02:12] to raise us so many times. They had to sacrifice and you know what it's like. You're a working mom.

[00:02:17] You know the sacrifices that it takes to hold that family together and as a glue of your home,

[00:02:23] it takes a lot of energy doesn't it? You know what it does. It really does. And it teaches us so much.

[00:02:28] It teaches us about discipline, about sacrifice, about humility.

[00:02:33] You know, raises our heart and fills us with joy. And so there's such an up and a down and a roller coaster to it.

[00:02:40] But it's a ride. It's quite a ride and such a blessing. Well, you got me thinking, Melissa.

[00:02:45] And you know, I think we ought to do more appreciating than maybe what we do.

[00:02:51] What if we just, what if we called our moms? What if we just picked up the phone,

[00:02:58] we called our moms and we told them we loved them. We had a little conversation.

[00:03:02] Oh, I love it. I love it. Let's do it. Let's do it.

[00:03:05] Mom, are you there? I'm here. Oh, hey, how are you?

[00:03:10] I'm doing good. How are y'all? We are doing well. Melissa and I are here and we were just

[00:03:16] thinking about Mother's Day. And so happy Mother's Day to you first and foremost.

[00:03:22] Mom, we wanted to talk a little bit about Mother's Day as we think about Mother's Day

[00:03:27] and we think about who we are and how we were raised and first and foremost, you know,

[00:03:33] who I am and what I do is because of how you and dad chose to raise me and just so

[00:03:39] appreciative of that and thankful for that. And so, Melissa and I thought, let's talk to the people

[00:03:45] who make it happen. Let's talk to the real moms that raised us and had such an influence and impact

[00:03:53] on our lives as the personalities go and they make a difference. You're a camel. Is that right?

[00:04:00] That's right. All right. So you were raising, at that time, you were raising a little monkey.

[00:04:06] A little monkey. Right. A little monkey. Well, tell us a little bit if you don't mind.

[00:04:14] Tell us a story that you remember about that monkey layer growing up.

[00:04:19] Okay. Monkey Larry was talking when he was born. I know he was because that's all he's done.

[00:04:27] And he was about five years old. His Sunday School teacher asked him to,

[00:04:33] uh, I fought songs they wanted to sing and he came up with blue suede shoes.

[00:04:40] He wanted to sing blue suede shoes.

[00:04:46] Larry was, uh, he liked to talk a lot like I said, and actually he liked to talk to grown people.

[00:04:54] And there was, uh, one lady that came over with me and Larry was just talking to her and going on

[00:05:04] and she said, you're pulling my leg. Well, honey, he got down there and pulled her leg.

[00:05:10] I mean, he was something else. And then as he grew on up a little, he, Larry was someone

[00:05:18] that others looked up to. He, um, if you head in school, I'm talking about school, his school friends,

[00:05:26] if they had problems where did they go? They went to Larry and Larry was always their form.

[00:05:33] And he always had an answer. So leadership is a fitting occupation for him.

[00:05:41] Um, he has love for the Lord and at one time he was a youth minister. So he really,

[00:05:50] uh, he, he did good. Let me put it that way. We're very proud of him.

[00:05:56] Thank you, mom. You did good, Ms. Linda too. Thank you. Very sweet. And I like that part where

[00:06:01] you said, you know, uh, I'll have an answer. I won't list. I want you to remember that.

[00:06:06] I'll have an answer. I've got, I got the answer. Oh, yes. I missed that. I'm sorry.

[00:06:14] Thank you mom. Thank you for sharing that story. And we know that, you know, legacy is so important

[00:06:20] and how we, how we were raised has, you know, it's very much impacted by how our parents

[00:06:26] were raised and who they were. And that, that generational legacy, uh, certainly we have

[00:06:31] choices in that, but it is so impactful. And let's talk a little bit about your mom on,

[00:06:37] on our mother's day. Okay. What was your personality? My mother was sort of a monkey

[00:06:44] turtle and she, uh, was one that lugs people, especially young people. And, uh,

[00:06:54] she just liked to have a lot of fun. Um, I really think when Frank and I were dating

[00:07:02] that he'd rather have her going the date than me.

[00:07:08] Now did she go on dates with y'all? She did. She went to, uh,

[00:07:14] Nashville with us to the Grendel Opry. She went to the drive-in theaters. I mean,

[00:07:21] you know, she was, he had her right there and, uh, she, uh, he really thought a lot of her.

[00:07:29] Mother had a real good personality and, um, she just, you know, fitted in with people and

[00:07:38] she gave us love and, and, um, he was just a real sweet person.

[00:07:47] I think you have that much of an education. I think maybe the 11th grade,

[00:07:52] 11th grade. Wow. Well, I know that she went back to school late in life.

[00:07:58] Like at round 40 and became a nurse. Right. And, and she had a reputation, uh,

[00:08:03] created her own legacy there at the hospital and the catering general. Didn't she?

[00:08:08] She did. She did. And she loved her job and, and the people there seemed to love her and,

[00:08:14] uh, even the patients when they would get out, they would, if we would see them or anything,

[00:08:20] they would ask us about her. And I'll tell you one thing, one little funny thing about a

[00:08:27] Frank worked at the hospital also and he, uh, would pick her up in the mornings to go to

[00:08:34] work and on the way one morning his car stopped. Something dropped out from underneath

[00:08:40] and so they had to walk the rest of the way to work. And when she got there,

[00:08:46] she told the nurses and all of them in there that their cadillahopper dropped out.

[00:08:54] Their cadillahopper dropped out and they had to walk to work.

[00:08:59] I love it. I love it. Well, mom, if you had to think about, uh, your mom, my grandmother,

[00:09:07] mam, what, what do you miss about her? What's something you miss about me?

[00:09:14] I miss her laughter. I mean, she was always laughing and always doing something and,

[00:09:20] and the love that she had for her children. I miss that.

[00:09:27] Well, if you could go back and say one thing to her, what would it be?

[00:09:32] I love you and I miss you very much.

[00:09:36] Oh, that's beautiful. Thank you. Well, thank you mom for, for sharing with us and,

[00:09:44] and, and getting on here and helping us to create this, this podcast and, and to try to

[00:09:49] help others and their relationships. And we're talking about relationships with our mom. And,

[00:09:55] um, I, I thank you for letting me put you on the hot seat because I know that's,

[00:09:58] that's not what you prefer, but you were willing to do it for your baby boy. And I

[00:10:03] appreciate it very much. All right. Well, I'm going to let you get back to your day and I love

[00:10:09] you and we celebrate you and celebrate Mother's Day and, um, look forward to, we'll be together soon.

[00:10:16] Thank you son. I love you too. All right. Thank you, Ms. Linda. Bye. Bye-bye.

[00:10:23] So, so Larry, Ms. Linda did a great job. She did a great job. I learned some things about you talking

[00:10:32] from your baby. I can see that. I can, I can just imagine that. Well, little Larry has, as you

[00:10:39] know, it's not exactly who big Larry is, but that's similar. There are a lot of, there are a

[00:10:44] lot of things that are the same and this was hard for mom because she's, she's a camel. So

[00:10:49] she was, you know, when I asked her, you know, hey, um, you know, on the phone, you heard her,

[00:10:53] she said, she said, I'll do it because I love you. That's what moms do. Yes. That's very true.

[00:10:56] They sacrifice and do things that they're uncomfortable with many times. They give them

[00:11:01] themselves, um, for their children and mom is a great example of that. She is. So what do you

[00:11:06] think? You ready to call your mom? Let's do it. Let's go. Good morning, mom. Hey, how are

[00:11:12] you doing this morning? I'm good. How are you? I'm good. Good. Thank you for being with us this morning

[00:11:21] on this podcast. We're going to ask you some questions and talk to you as a mom because

[00:11:27] we're celebrating Mother's Day. Okay, good. Good. Well, we love to talk about personalities

[00:11:37] and love to find out about personalities. And so, mom, think about your personality

[00:11:44] and you being a mom and being a mom of four, you have four children, three boys and one girl.

[00:11:52] What, um, what would you say your personality has been, mom? It changes with the situation,

[00:11:59] I think. But I think with, um, your kids growing up, I was probably a turtle lion

[00:12:07] and then maybe monkey. I think so. I think so. A turtle, sweet mom to goodness. A big family.

[00:12:20] Sweet turtle. And monkey too. I think you had a lot of monkey in you enjoyed,

[00:12:26] just connecting with your kids and being with your kids. And so, I want you to think about,

[00:12:34] think about a story, a story of me and you mom, the story of maybe me growing up, a story.

[00:12:43] Think about that for just a moment and what kind of memories, what's the story you have?

[00:12:48] Well, when you were about in about, in the third grade, you would be miserable

[00:12:57] nothing to do because the boys had each other to play with. Now I would like to get in the

[00:13:02] station wagon and drive the station around in the fungroves. You sure did.

[00:13:11] Our green station wagon, that big car that we had.

[00:13:15] We reached over the steering wheel. You could hardly see over the steering wheel.

[00:13:20] But she would let me drive. Yes.

[00:13:25] My how times have changed.

[00:13:27] Yes, but I trusted each one of my children and I was very naive.

[00:13:33] I believe if I told you something you were going to do it because I was raised in such a way

[00:13:38] that whatever mother said, you did. That's right. So, you know, I said I would drive the car and

[00:13:46] that's what I did. I love it. I love it. I guess I could reach the pedals, the gas,

[00:13:54] maybe the brake for sure. I hope I could reach the brake.

[00:13:58] Was it a station wagon? It was a station wagon.

[00:14:01] Yes, and you always went very, very slow. So if you had hit one of the contrary,

[00:14:07] wouldn't even have hurt the car? Probably not.

[00:14:12] So we grew up on a pecan farm and we had acres and acres of pecan groves.

[00:14:20] And so that was, that gave me a runway. If I just would keep it between the trees,

[00:14:25] you know, that was fun and something to do because I was bored with three brothers. I

[00:14:31] was very bored. Mom, what about any other stories that you want to tell?

[00:14:39] The day you were born, of course by that time, by the time the family got to see you,

[00:14:45] you know, I was exhausted. They had you in my arms and we didn't know back then

[00:14:52] that it was going to be a boy or girl. And when they told me it was a little girl,

[00:14:58] it's like I just reached over and kissed you and kissed you and kissed you.

[00:15:04] Goodness, baby. You didn't know it might have been another boy, but here's...

[00:15:08] She's skated it. She's going to have another old boy.

[00:15:12] After three, it would have been hard to have had a fourth boy.

[00:15:18] Mom, I have a question. Are you responsible, mom, for spoiling this precious little young,

[00:15:25] this youngest child who's a daughter? Are you responsible for spoiling her?

[00:15:29] I'm sure I am. I've always...

[00:15:33] It never needed a spanking until she was your teenager and then it was too late.

[00:15:39] We don't have to tell all that, mom.

[00:15:41] Here we can ask... She's gone to bed with that.

[00:15:43] Trying to get a hold of her all. Let's ask a different question.

[00:15:46] I'd like to hear a little bit more about that teenager's trouble.

[00:15:49] Oh my goodness. And then hard for all of us.

[00:15:52] So let's... Tell me about Nanny.

[00:15:57] So Nanny is... She was your mom, what we called her. We called her Nanny.

[00:16:02] So Nanny had four girls.

[00:16:06] So tell us what... What was Nanny's personality?

[00:16:11] Nanny was a lion camel.

[00:16:15] That's the truth. Yes.

[00:16:17] One of my oldest sisters said that her personality changed because

[00:16:24] before I was born, she was a lion monkey. She was lots and lots of fun.

[00:16:36] Mm-hmm.

[00:16:39] Hey, life will do that to you.

[00:16:42] May-May she had four girls at that time. Can you imagine four girls?

[00:16:46] My mother sows for all of us. She had a big vegetable garden. She froze vegetables.

[00:16:54] She canned vegetables. She kept the berry pretty yards out of green thumb.

[00:17:00] I don't know how she did all she did.

[00:17:03] Mm-hmm. She was a lion. She was a remarkable woman.

[00:17:09] Yes, she was. She was a mess. She would say exactly what was on her mind.

[00:17:17] Yes. And keep you in stiches and afraid.

[00:17:22] She would always say, Say what you mean and mean what you say.

[00:17:27] Ah, that's good. That sounds like Nanny.

[00:17:34] So May-May what do you miss? What do you miss about Nanny? What would you say?

[00:17:39] I miss her wisdom. I miss being able to ask her, Mom, what would you do about that?

[00:17:48] Mm-hmm. And I also miss

[00:17:53] her godly wisdom as well, not just her worldly wisdom but her godly wisdom.

[00:18:00] It's very sweet. Very sweet. My mom and my dad both were dedicated to the Lord

[00:18:07] and we will race that way. So I have a wonderful heritage.

[00:18:13] Mm-hmm. Sweet, sweet, sweet. And your mom, she was such a strong lady. She worked so hard to

[00:18:22] raise you all and with your dad passing away when you were a teenager just a strong lady.

[00:18:28] Strong lady. And so are you, Mamie. So are you. So what would you say?

[00:18:35] If you could say one thing to Nanny, what would you say to Nanny?

[00:18:42] I would say, Mom, all the times that I stayed with you in the nursing home

[00:18:48] and you were trying to go home and I wouldn't let you. I'm sorry but I love you, Nanny.

[00:18:55] Sweet. So sweet. It's very sweet. So sweet. You're such a caretaker for your mom and so precious.

[00:19:03] We all love Nanny and we love you, Mamie. Yes, we do, Mamie. So much and you're so much

[00:19:09] fun and I just appreciate it. I love both of you. You're sweet, such a sweet. Thank you. Thank you for

[00:19:16] letting us talk to you, letting us have a chance to kind of hear your some stories and for you being

[00:19:22] with us. We sure do appreciate it. Happy Mother's Day, Mamie. Thank you and thank you for asking me

[00:19:29] to answer questions. All right. Love you, Mamie. Love you. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Wow, that was a lot of fun.

[00:19:38] Love hearing from Miss Kay, from Mamie and you know, Melissa, as I think about that,

[00:19:44] as we talked to our moms, it was so interesting how personalities play a huge role in parenting

[00:19:51] and how, you know, my mom's mom was different than her and your mom's mom was different than

[00:19:57] she was. But yet they were able to display and give that unconditional love to their daughters.

[00:20:05] And you can look back and you can hear these stories and you can pinpoint that they recognize

[00:20:11] that love was present and that they did the best that they could and that they invested

[00:20:16] in their children and tried hard. And I love that. I love that, you know, you can remember

[00:20:22] those stories and those stories equal love. They do equal love and what comes to my mind is that

[00:20:28] love is an action and these women's actively love their children. These women in our world

[00:20:35] and they make a difference where we talk about the dance, where you go from one personality

[00:20:39] quadrant to another and then back and forth. They spent so much time and energy and investment,

[00:20:45] your mom said, you were bored. So I had to do something to help you and she let you

[00:20:49] drive the station wagon. It was so interesting that she knew you, not who she was as a turtle,

[00:20:56] but who you were probably as a monkey or a turtle monkey, but she got to where you were

[00:21:02] and met your need and that just resonates with me. Love is about meeting the needs of others

[00:21:07] and getting to where they are and our moms were great examples of that, but I also know

[00:21:12] there are women everywhere who played that role, who given themselves, who choose to sacrifice.

[00:21:19] I don't think we can underestimate the power of that. That's right and they create such a legacy

[00:21:23] in that person. You know, you never know what another person is going to remember about you

[00:21:29] and just filling that cup up, filling that bank up with love, making investments,

[00:21:33] creating memories is so important. You said it right, creating that legacy and sometimes we don't

[00:21:39] give enough to our moms. So moms, happy mother's day, wherever you are, wherever you're listening,

[00:21:45] hey, go love your mom. Go hug the lady that impacted you as a mom, that had a role in your life at

[00:21:52] some season of your life who invested in you. Go tell them, thank you. Tell them that you

[00:21:57] appreciate them. Tell them you love them. Now, this says we wrapped this thing up.

[00:22:02] Well, you know what we have to do now is become a long standing tradition and at least

[00:22:07] of what Robin, four episodes, three episodes. So the long standing tradition is my joke book,

[00:22:15] my dad's joke book and since it's mother's day, this is a mother's day joke. Kind of, sort of maybe.

[00:22:23] We're going to work on it. All right. Here we go. Are you ready? All right. Melissa,

[00:22:29] did you hear about the invisible man who married the invisible woman?

[00:22:35] Mmm, no. Well, their kids were nothing to look at.

[00:22:43] Hey, we thank you for joining us. We hope we made you smile a bit. Make sure you reach out to

[00:22:48] those women in your life that had an impact. Tell them you love them. Thank you for

[00:22:52] joining us on Crossing the Line. We'll see you next time.