Since Sunday was Mother’s Day and I wrote about my Mom yesterday, I wanted to dedicate the whole week to stories that involve moms in one form or another. So, here goes….

Back in the late 70s before it was against the law to not wear seatbelts, my mom was driving my sister and I to visit my grandmother in [url=http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=sturbridge,+ma&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1]Sturbridge[/url]. If I remember correctly, my mom owned a huge, green station wagon and, to be honest I’m not even sure if that car had any seatbelts. So, we were sitting, un-seatbelted, in the back seats watching the winter scenery pass by. As we came around a corner, I recall feeling the rear end of the car start to twitch around and slide a bit as we hit a patch of ice.

My mom, in a very calm, fighter pilot type voice said just two words – “Hold on…”

A couple of seconds later, the car slid across the center of the road and we crashed into a tree or a hill or something on the side of the road. Luckily, my sister and I were fine although I think we both ended up on the floor and my mom was okay as well. We got out and a passing driver must have stopped to see if we were alright because I seem to remember the car being towed away.

This memory of my mother’s voice telling us to hold on is seared into my brain and it makes me laugh every time I think about it.