The first day of freshman year in college my mom and Aunt Phyllis dropped me off at the dorm and helped me get settled in. Mom stuck around the whole day in my room getting things put away for me as I explored the campus and went to the different first day activities. I came back in the afternoon to find most of my stuff organized and my dorm room as my new home.
Mom had about a 90 minute drive back home so we went to the community bathrooms before her long trip. As we were washing our hands my mom looked over to me and said, “Jane…”
My mind began to race thinking, “Oh this is it, my mom’s going to give me that life-changing-you’re-going-to-college-and-you have-the whole-world-in-front-of-you-speech. What is she going to tell me? What advice and wisdom will she impart to me?”
She looked at me with a tender gaze of motherly love, “Jane, you should really start putting lotion on your elbows, that way they won’t look all old and cracked.”
I stared back at her, my mouth slightly open ready to respond to my mom’s great advice. My pounding mind thought, “WHAT???? I’m going to college and she tells me to ‘lotion my elbows’! No “be true to yourself” or “follow your dreams” or “do what makes you happy” or “keep your pants zipped” (at least my brother got that advice)!”
Then my mouth closed and my eyes formed a squint and I said, “I think its time for you to go, Mom.”
She said, “Okay, baby.” We hugged goodbye and I walked my mom out to her car. I never forgot mom’s wonderful advice and even as a Resident Advisor I would regale the incoming freshman girls of the story of Ma Cobb’s Advice of Don’t Forget to Lotion Your Elbows.
Do I lotion my elbows? Yes, of course, mom said to and I want people to admire my young and supple elbows when I’m older. “She may 92 years old, but she’s got the elbows of a 19 year old college freshman.”
Thanks, mom. Happy Mother’s Day.
