By Maureen O’Brien
Maybe
it had something to do with our phone conversations lately. I wondered what had happened to the long, news
filled chats we used to have. Just yesterday,
she had dismissed me again. “Marcus, I
really can’t talk right now. I have to
go Sweetie.” She seemed to be so
busy. Always on the go and in a hurry to
get somewhere. What was going on?
I waited after ringing the doorbell. No answer, so I let myself in. As usual, the door was unlocked. Mom has never believed in locking doors. She’s always said that if someone broke in to
rob her, he’d probably look around, feel sorry for her and leave something
instead.
I found her in the dining room where she
seemed to be putting the finishing touches on her table setting. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Vintage lace covered the table and it was set
for three, with fine china. The
centerpiece was an arrangement of colorful hydrangeas which I was sure, she had
picked from her prodigious garden. White
cloth napkins, shaped in to swans peeked out of cobalt blue wine goblets. I watched as she stepped back to admire her
handiwork. I detected her whispering
something but I couldn’t make it out.
“Hey Mom,” I said. “Sorry to barge in on you. Hope I didn’t startle you but I guess you
were so busy you didn’t hear the doorbell. By the way, your table looks
beautiful.”
She didn’t appear at all startled. Paying no
attention to me, she continued to rearrange the flatware. I had never seen so many different size forks
on our dining room table and what were those little knives for?
“Well,”
I announced, “set a pretty table and they will come.”
I
don’t think she heard me over the blaring television. Matt Lauer of The Today Show was going on and
on about how terrible it was that Lindsey Vonn would not be able to compete in
the Sochi Olympics.
“Oh
Sweetheart,” Mom said, “What a nice surprise.
But isn’t this just awful? That
poor girl has been training so hard and now her knee went out again. I swear it
makes me want to cry. Can you imagine?”
Continued,
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Maureen “Moe” O’Brien moved
from Bethel, CT to Myrtle Beach, SC in 1988. Her “claim to fame” as
she likes to phrase it, is that she played professional basketball,
touring with the Harlem Globetrotters in 1959. She is an avid golfer and
won the SC Senior Women’s Golf Championship in 1993 and 2004. Her book
“Who’s Got The Ball? And Other Nagging Questions About Team Life”, was
published in 1995. It is a “how to” book for team members in all work
environments. Maureen is the proud Grandma of eight granddaughters,
ranging in age from fifteen to twenty seven.
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