The Mom Code

Back in March, my eighth grade son travelled with his school orchestra to the state capitol to play in the rotunda. This was the farthest he has travelled solo and I was a bit anxious. It was going to be a long day - an early departure and a late return. He would need lots of....electronics to make the travel time go faster. His backpack contained his mp3 player, tablet, a book and a modern day extension of my umbilical cord - his cell phone.

The texts started coming almost as soon as the bus pulled away from the school. "I hate this", "It's too loud, I can't hear", "Someone just passed gas”. While I was happy to hear from him, the complaints were not the 'I miss you mom' I would have preferred and became a little much. I encouraged him to talk to his friends and try to have fun.

The phone went silent for a while and I was about to enjoy a few moments alone in my house, which never happens. I kicked off my shoes turned on 'The View' - wondered who these people were and what happened to Whoopi, when my phone buzzed.

The text read, "I knew something would go wrong".

My mind began racing. Did someone get sick? Did they break down? Were they in an accident?

"WHAT HAPPENED?", I typed as quickly as I could.

"I forgot my sheet music!" (frowny face) was his reply. "I am a disgrace to my state."

Now if you knew my son, like I know my son, his text was no surprise. For as smart as he is, he is not the most responsible. Before I could write, "Well, you made sure you had everything that needed charged before you left", he wrote, "I know what you are going to say - I brought this on myself."

Ok. I was thinking that, but I knew he was upset and now was not the time to point fingers. How could I help? Could I take photos of the music and send those? Was there Wi-Fi in the rotunda? Could he use his tablet to pull up the images? And then my light bulb went off.

State Senator Jim Brewster - yeah, I'll call him. Maybe he can step away from the budget crisis and help me solve this orchestra crisis. I was desperate and before I could say impasse, I Googled the number and was on my way to a solution.

A woman named Ranee answered the phone. I asked, "Ranee, how far away is your office from the rotunda?" She said, "Less than a minute walk." Bingo. I explained my situation and from the start she was on board. Getting this music scanned and emailed to her took some time. (I did not know we were dealing with nine pages!) But with minutes to spare before their performance, she arrived to save the day. She said she recognized my son because he was the only one who looked like he needed help.

I tried to express my gratitude as best as I could, but nothing could convey how much she meant to me after what we went through. She said, "I'm a mom to a US Soldier and have had a few mom's take care of him when he was across the country! So it's the least I can do…from one mom to another."