She's My Girlfriend

My mom - Always a Queen.
I love you mom!

I suppose that all teenage boys need to spread their wings occasionally and push the limits of what is and isn't acceptable and I was no exception.  In general I was a very polite young man.  I had been taught to say please and thank you, yes'sir and no ma'm along with the other social etiquette that a young man should learn.  I wasn't what you would call rebellious and was a bit shy in my social interactions.  All in all I tried to be a good young man ... most of the time ...  I set this background up just to add some context around this story.

I had a good loving mom and dad who always treated me with respect.  Well it just so happened one afternoon I got into a disagreement with my mom which turned into an argument and resulted with me ending up in my room.  Now, I can't even remember what the argument was about but that is an unimportant part of this story. However,  I do remember that I made my mother cry.

As I sat in my room waiting for my dad to get home from work, I remember going over my points in the discussion so I could tell my dad very clearly how and why I was right and mom was wrong.  It simply wasn't fair that I should be punished for disagreeing since I was in the right.  Surely, he would understand my side and be able to set mom straight.

I have never forgotten the powerful lesson I learned that day.  As my dad got home from work, I waited quietly for him to come talk to me.  Now, my room was in the basement and I remember very distinctly hearing my dad step methodically descend into the basement.  In reality there were only about 13 steps but it seemed like there was closer to 30 as I heard each distinct step as he closed in on me.  I was standing in the middle of my room ready to defend my position.

My bedroom door eventually opened and he came in and walked right up to me.  He put his finger on my chest and simply stated, "She's your mother and if that's not enough, she is my girlfriend and if you ever make her cry again, you and I are going to tangle".

I never asked or learned what he meant by tangle, but I knew immediately that I had been wrong.  Dad hadn't been interested in whether I was right or wrong in my points.  He only cared that I had been disrespectful to my mother and his girlfriend.   I stayed in my room a short while before I went upstairs and apologized to my mom and I have always tried to treat all women with respect from that moment on.

What a wonderful lesson my father taught me by simply letting me know that it was my behavior that day that overrode any consideration of right or wrong.  My behavior  was totally unacceptable irrespective of any right and wrong position I thought gave me license to mistreat her.  I have come to learn that I was wrong in every sense of the word.  I also learned that the way we treat and interact with others from a position of love and respect is one of the most important behaviors we can learn  if we desire to be more Christ-like in our lives.

I am not always successful now but I try hard to always be respectful of others, especially women.  I often think back on that experience and apply it to my current situations
to make sure I am behaving appropriately in my life.