In June 1993, I said goodbye for the last time to my mom. Wow, that’s hard to believe – that’s more than a quarter of a century, and more than a half of my life, ago!
I’m using a Jim Brickman song, A Mother’s Love, with a bunch of Disney clips, to commemorate my mom.
Thank you for watching over me
All of the sleepless nights you lay awake
Thank you for knowing when to hold me close
And when to let me go
You gave me the roots to start this life
and then you gave me wings to fly
And I learned to dream
Because you believed in me
There’s no power like it on this earth
No treasure equal to its worth
The gift of a mother’s love
Thank you for every selfless, unsung deed
I know you did for me
Thank you for giving me the choice
To search my soul ’til I could find my voice
In the 1980s and 1990s, I worked for Walt Disney World as a Sr. Show Producer for Corporate Presentations and Marketing Events. Barely thirty years old, lots of dreams ahead of me. By this time, I not only worked for Disney full-time, but I’d already started a few companies with some friends. Integrated Innovations, Inc. introduced a product that synchronized fireworks at Disney to music in the Epcot Showcase Lagoon show and helped the National Film Board of Canada synchronize language translations for films. I was a consultant to a handful of clients in Orlando for their IT/technology needs, including a project code-named “Interact” which would have provided real-time information on everything there was to do in Central Florida and other major cities around the country, prior to having the ability to do this from your cell phone. Still to be dreamed were two other companies I would lead, Blue Moon Interactive, Inc. and Industrial Artistry, Inc., both involved with the Internet and digital media projects.
How could a twenty-something-year-old kid have started these legitimate companies!? Not to mention a few other DBAs, providing services like voice-mail for small businesses before it was available on every cell phone! I have to contribute a lot of this early success and drive to my mom (and dad). If there was one person in my life who (a) never gave up on me, (b) always put up with my crap, and (c) always was my biggest fan, I’d have to say it was my mom. When my mom passed away, she was only 55 years old. Who would have thought, when I was in my early twenties, that I’d be saying goodbye to my mom just ten years later? After all, I was still in that “ten-feet tall, bulletproof” mindset when I got the call from my brother that all was not well in parentville (yeah, made up word – spell-checker is freaking out).
So, let’s go back and look at what kind of mom my mother was to me in my early years.
Before I was born, my mom had health complications because of the way she was carrying me. As a result, she needed help to move around. Her doctor suggested she should have an abortion, since it was causing so many problems for her health; but my parents decided it was worth it to proceed with the pregnancy.
Let the fun begin!
About six months into my mom’s pregnancy, she started experiencing labor pains one night while my parents were visiting her parents. They left the house without my mom (she needed help to get around), and headed to the hospital. Once they realized she was not in the car, they went back and, with laughter and tears, picked her up, and headed to the hospital again.
On the way, a police car attempted to stop them for something (speeding, failed to stop, who knows?). When the officer realized my grandfather wasn’t stopping, he pulled in front and offered an escort to the hospital.
After administering muscle relaxing drugs, they sent my dad home to rest, relax, and refreshen, promising nothing would happen.
Yeah, right! Those who know me will also know “nothing will happen” is NOT EVER an option!
During labor, my mom passed out, and I was born was born. I was three months premature! I was “ready” for the world, whether or not they were ready for me.
Since my mom wasn’t carrying me normally, the doctors, and there were many in the room, didn’t want to injure mom or “Baby Boy Beaton” (yes, that’s what’s on the birth certificate) during the delivery, so they opted not to do a c-section.
The day after I was born, my mom’s regular doctor came in to see how she was doing, but he wobbled into the room with a full leg cast and crutches. Things were hectic, with doctors, specialists, and nurses, during the delivery; something fell to the floor, he slipped and broke his leg.
My mom asked him why her upper body was sore. He called a nurse into the room and explained, “Mary, after you had passed out, when you had contractions, she lay on top of you and rolled to match your contractions. Your son was born naturally, without a c-section.”
Convention in the early 1960s was to place a “preemie” in an incubator with heat and pure oxygen, since the lungs hadn’t fully formed. For me, the nurses in the neo-natal ward decided that the ugly, tiny, purple baby was cute, and they held me, cuddled me, rocked me, and walked with me, using their own body heat to keep me warm.
Now, we understand the pure oxygen environment may cause complications, including cerebral palsy, blindness, and crippling side effects, which I skirted because the nurses kept me out of the environment.
How blessed I was!
I had:
- Really cool parents who, against the recommendations, decided against abortion.
- Really cool nurses who, against protocol, carried me instead of leaving me in the incubator.
- Really cool doctors, and a nurse, who decided it was worth having a normal delivery.
- Really cool parents who taught me and gave me the freedom to make mistakes, so I would learn (yeah, still had to deal with the ten-foot-tall, bulletproof mindset).
Some more stuff I’ve learned from my parents:
- Things aren’t always what they seem to be. Even though things sometimes seem tough, don’t give in to whims without taking time to explore the wisdom and experience to stay the course.
- Even though guarding the safety of your kids can sometimes hurt, keep on doing it. It’s often easier to be your child’s best friend, but realistically speaking, they have lots of best friends, but only two parents. Who’s gonna take care of them if you don’t!?
- When life inside the home is stable, life outside the home will be surmountable. If your parents are consistent with the rules inside the house, you will have no problem adhering to them outside the house. Trust, reliability, and a proper role model are priceless.
- Know when to let go, and when to hold close. I can’t tell you how many times I started a sentence with, “But my friends…,” only to hear my parents say, “We aren’t your friend’s parents.” Parents need to be stubborn when ideals and values are involved, but when the other end of the deal is a scraped kneed; learn to just let go!
So, remember I worked for Disney until after my mom’s death, so all she ever knew was that her son worked for Disney, and she was so proud and excited about that. She would tell people I lived in Florida, worked in Italy, often had dinner in the UK, Germany, Japan, France, Mexico, Norway, and, of course, the United States. Ironically, she wasn’t lying, figuratively and literally; Epcot Center (back then) and actual frequent travel to other countries fulfilled all of her claims.
My mom wasn’t perfect, but the gift of a mother’s love… there’s no power like it on this earth!
As a tribute to my mom’s love for Disney, and me working there, check out this video, “A Mother’s Love” – Disney style.
