A MOTHER'S LOVE ACROSS THE CHASM

By Juan Montoya

It was on about 1986 when a county commissioner and I were asked to attend the funeral of a matriarch of a large Southmost family.

As a precinct supervisor, I normally disliked this most unenviable political task. Not only do I dislike funeral homes in general, but I disliked the political aspect of this task in particular. I did not know the lady, although I did know some of her brood. They were our political supporters and one of them called the precinct office to tell us when the rosary and the visitation hours were.

The funeral was held at Treviño's Funeral Home on Old Port Isabel Rd.

When we got there, we small-talked for a while after we had paid our respects to the family on the front pew and congregated, as funeral goers are wont to do, outside the building where some of the sons smoked and others remembered their mom.

While we were there, the elected official I worked for asked one of the brothers casually whether their brother – a convicted felon serving a lengthy federal sentence in a prison near El Paso – had learned of his mother's death.

His face changed expressions suddenly and he pulled us both aside.

"The federal authorities didn't allow him to attend the funeral, but they let me talk to him on the phone to tell him she had died the previous night," he said slowly. "When my brother picked up the phone, I told him I had some bad news for him.

"'Se murio la jefa, verdad (Mom died. Right?)'" he asked, before I had a chance to tell him."

"How did you know? I asked him."

'She came to say goodbye last night,' my brother answered."

The elected official and I looked at the brother straight in the eye and saw that he was serious. I felt a cold wave go though my body, even though it was a balmy early South Texas evening with the temperatures hovering in the 70s or low 80s.

But it also made me fell good to realize that the bonds between a mother and her offspring are stronger than we think and stretch beyond the enclave of this mortal plane.

This Mother's Day, if you have her still, show her you appreciate her. If you don't reach out in your thoughts to her. She'll be listening.