He was standing in an alley trying to stay out of the blistering cold wind. It was about 25 degrees outside, but the wind made it feel closer to 18 degrees.
“I set up amusement rides for a living,” he told me. “It was a lot of hard work putting the rides together and then tearing ‘em down from city to city,” he said while looking off into the distance. I then asked,” I heard the guys that travel with carnivals like to party, did you party a lot?” “Man, a lot of drinking – a whole lot,” he said with a smile. He took a sip of his warm coffee, “I had to quit, that was too tiring for me,” he said. He then described how the traveling, drinking, putting up and tearing down rides is hard on the body.
On his right hand was a tattoo that read, “MOM.” On his fingers he had the numbers “1982” inked in black. I questioned, “What does the 1982 mean?” “That is what year I was born, and then mom,” he said. “You love your mom don’t you - is she still alive,” I asked. “I sure do,” he then told me that she is alive and doing well, but he rarely sees her as she lives in another state, “I write or call her all the time though.” He told me that it has been months since he has seen her, but hopes to save up enough money to visit her in the near future.
There is something about a mom. Despite of how far away you live from your mother, she is always in your heart and you are always in hers.
“A father may turn his back on his child, brothers and sisters may become inveterate enemies, husbands may desert their wives, wives their husbands. But a mother's love endures through all.” - Washington Irving