Today In Mississippi

Fatherhood opened my eyes
to sacrifices of motherhood

By Michael Callahan
Electric Power Associations of Mississippi Executive Vice President/CEO

My editor suggested I write something about my mother since Mother’s Day is in May and my usual columns are rarely personal. Since I have had a mother for 39 years, I didn’t think it would be too difficult to write about her.

I am an only child. I weighed close to 10 pounds when I was born. My mother said, “Never again,” and my father was concerned how he would feed another as large as me. My mom was a “stay at home” mother, and I was the center of her life. To say I was spoiled is an understatement. Whatever I wanted to eat, she made. I never picked up my clothes, cleaned my room or made my bed; my mom did it for me. Looking back, the first 18 years of my life were pretty darn good.

I will always and forever be my mom’s “baby boy,” and it matters little that I grew to be 6 feet 6 inches and 300 pounds. I will never forget the first time I brought Melissa home to meet the folks. It took only seconds for Melissa to notice the way my mom gleefully met my every need and desire. On the trip back to Hattiesburg, I was informed, for three-and-a-half hours, that that kind of treatment was coming to an abrupt end, and that my future wife was not my mother.

While I love my mother and cherish the relationship we have had for 39 years, I must admit it was my wife who taught and showed me what it really means to be a mother.

For the first eight years of my marriage, I was always asked, “What are you getting your wife for Mother’s Day?” My response: “Nothing, she is not my mother.” But everything changed on April 3, 1997, when my son was born. My son weighed in at 9 pounds 14 ounces, was 21 inches long and was born naturally. An old joke says that if men had to give birth, our species would become extinct. I totally agree. I watched someone I love experience a pain I really can’t and don’t want to comprehend, while I looked on like a deer caught in a headlight. Understand, my wife had wanted drugs, it’s just Michael came so fast that by the time the hospital staff got ready, it was too late—he was coming.

That May I bought my wife her first Mother’s Day present, on Michael’s behalf, and have continued every year since. I have learned from my wife the sacrifices mothers make for their families. My wife is the last to bed and the first one up. She takes care of the kids when they are sick, as well as her husband. She gets the kids to school, dance, swimming, soccer and piano lessons. She knows what medicines they take, what they eat and how to comb their hair. She does all this while working full time in her family business.

My wife, like all mothers, gives constantly, while never asking anything for herself. It has always amazed me that after Michael’s birth, my wife would have not one but two more children. Katlyne and Victoria should hug their mom every day because if I had given birth to Michael, he, like myself, would be an only child.

So to my mom, who was always there for me making sacrifices I didn’t know about, I say thank you, I love you and happy Mother’s Day. And to my wife, the mother of my children, who showed me first hand what it really means to be a mother, thank you, I love you and happy Mother’s Day.

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Electric Power Associations of Mississippi
P.O. Box 3300 Ridgeland, Mississippi 39158-3300 phone 601.605.8600 fax 601.605.8601