Tom on Mothers' Day

 Today's Subject Line Song was actually the B-side of Elvis's hit 'The

Wonder of You'. Mama Liked the Roses was believed to be about his late
mother, Gladys, with whom he had a seriously weird relationship. Most
boys love their mamas, but like so much else in Elvis's life, his love
for his mother was way over the top. When Gladys Presley died in
1958, she was only 46 years old. Parents sometimes die young and while
their spouses and children are often emotionally devastated, few
people take their mother's death as hard as Elvis did. Elvis was in
basic training in the US Army when his mother died after a short
illness. Gladys's funeral was something of a spectacle because in 1958
anything that had to do with Elvis was the subject of tremendously
comprehensive news coverage, and his mom's funeral was no exception.
By all accounts. Elvis was inconsolable and he tore his garments and
gnashed his teeth, so great was his sorrow. He addressed his mom as if
she still lived in what must have been a truly cringeworthy
spectacle. Perhaps the defining anecdote involved Mrs Presley's
favorite Gospel group, The Blackwood Brothers, who Elvis had hired to
perform at his mom's funeral. Elvis refused to let the group stop
performing after the one set that he'd hired them for, insisting that
they continue to perform until cooler heads prevailed. Elvis also made
a spectacle of himself at his mom's gravesite where some observers
worried that he might throw himself into her graveElvis may have been
childlike in many ways but his appetite for he pleasures offered by
female flesh as fully adult except for the belief that females ho had
given birth were somehow damaged and unworthy of his attentions and
this distaste was apparently a factor in his separation and divorce
from his wife Priscilla, as you might imagine

But Elvis as in no sense normal Normal people have a relationship with
their mothers that is both unreservedly loving and maddeningly
complex When we are small children our mothers were like Gods all
knowing and all powerful They knew how to make us feel better when
we're sick and taught us how to operate our bodies Moms oversaw and
encouraged the necessary transformation from feral savages which is
the natural state of small children into miniature adults who're
reasonably attuned to what it takes to function within the larger
universe of society as opposed to the cozy nest that is more tolerant
of our foibles

But once we go off to school we begin to realize that our moms are
fallible. We become acquainted with all sorts of competing authority
figures who seem more powerful and more knowledgeable than our hapless
moms. Teachers rule our days, and policemen rule the streets. How we
relate to our peers becomes increasingly important as we grow older.
We eventually develop societies and activities that largely operate
without a mother's input, (think of the societal crucible that is the
modern high school). We value independence over guidance and demand
the freedom to make our own mistakes, and we make them early and
often. We break our mothers hearts on a daily basis but a wise mother
understands that this difficult and chaotic transition from childhood
to adulthood is developmentally necessary and she tries like hell to
not take it personally

When we become adults in our own right we realize that our moms have
always had our backs; that they've always sacrificed their own needs
for ours. That's what a mother does. So let us honor our moms today,
and everyday, for their unstinting devotion on our behalf

Happy Mother's Day