For all the things that i did that i shouldn't have done when i was a kid, got caught for and was rightly punished for.... there was this one time i got caught doing something and was going to be punished for it.... only i really didn't do it and only one person believed me... my mom.

And for almost forty years the memory of that days' events is as fresh as ever.

As a kid i attended...(you'll love this..) the Academy of St. Peter Claver in Jamaica, New York. i don't remember a whole lot about that experience except that Milo used to wet his pants at least once a day, Wendy was a naughty girl who picked her noise all day long, my kindergarten Mrs. Hendricks, is still my favorite teacher of all time and like i said my mom believed me one time when no one else did.

Here is the deal, Grover was an older boy who i used to have to hang around with because his mother and my mother were friends and after school while my single parent mom was still at work, Grover's mother Mrs. Fanell, would keep an eye on me until my mom picked me up. i loved when my mom picked me up because the truth is, the only person meaner than Grover... was his mother.

Anyway, Grover and i both were students at St. Peter Claver and one winter morning before school began Grover promised to beat me to a pulp if i didn't go to a little store around the corner from the school with him. Grover knew it was against the rules but did it anyway. Not only that but he proceeded to steal candy while there... i saw him do it. Grover then told me if i told anyone he'd beat me to within an inch of my life (if you haven't figured it out yet... i was pretty sacred of Grover... actually i was pretty scared of everything). Soon enough along with the stolen candy, we went to school.
It didn't take long before i was called down to the principals' office and told that soon my mother would be along to take me home for the day. When i asked why, i was told that the owner of that same small store around the corner had come in and described two little boys who had been in his store earlier that same morning and stolen candy. Uh-oh.... Yes, i had been in the store i confessed (which was against the rules) but as far as stealing candy (definitely against the rules as well)... i didn't know anything about that.... of course Grover was right there the entire time... all he had to do was look at me and i clammed up.

Soon my Mom, who i think at the time was teaching public school for the city of New York (and still does to this day), showed up and wanted to know what had happened. When it was all explained to her, she looked at me and asked... Bobby (that's what i used to be called before i grew older and became much more sophisticated)... Bobby, she asked, did you steal candy from the candy store? i knew this was beyond serious, as the principal, the store owner and Grover looked on... my answer was "No mommy, i didn't steal any candy".

The store owner couldn't believe it! He had seen me in the store, he had seen little hands take candy without paying for it, of course i had stolen it, the principal (who knew that Grover was a bad kid and a bad influence on other kids) couldn't believe it either... why in the world was my mother asking me if i had stolen any candy?!?
But for my mother the issue was settled, she was not about to force a confession out of me... and i will never forget what she said that day in that little principals' office... even as other adults looked on and expressed disbelief in my truthfulness, my mother said... If he says he didn't steal it, I believe him... he never lies to me.

Now my friends, that is the kind of thing that makes you never ever want to lie to your Mom again! Did i never shade or stretch the truth the rest of the time i was at home... no, i did a fair amount of fibbing in my time but having a Mom who believed me and in me at a time when no one else did... well let's just say the experience stays with me to this day.

For that and so many other things i say thank you so very much Mom and Happy Mother's Day!