Mothers are always picking up after their children, and last night I wrote a blog suggesting that my mother should be running the country after a telephone call we had in which we discussed Coronavirus preparedness in both Ireland and Spain.
This morning I got talking to a client of mine called Maria whose son had asked her to pick up something for him.
Yes mothers are always giving their children lifts to the pool or park or gym or school and I still remember times my mother would collect me from high school at lunchtime. I would be cycling home for lunch and see my mother's car in the car-park and put my bike on the bike rack and go home for lunch. Later while studying in a nearby university, I would frequently call home and look for a lift.
My parents would pick me up somewhere along the road from the college to our house and I knew it took time out of their day to save me a few kilometres walking home.
My parents didn't have time to be waiting around for me and later in life I would borrow my mother's car which gave me independence when I wasn't cycling everywhere and this dependence on my parents meant I avoided all the insurance and tax costs of maintaining my own car.
So today I learnt about Maria's son's unusual request which meant picking something up for her son which was no light task, to ask of her.
Her son is a powerlifter and looking to compete in competitions and he saw some gym equipment for sale which he thought was very good value. With no time to weight around, he agreed to pay extra for the expensive equipment as other people were also interested in it.
He then asked his mother to pick up the weight-lifting equipment which was in a Spanish town in the North of Spain 450kms from Madrid. This is a four and half hour drive or nine-hour return trip covering almost a 1,000km.
Strange to imagine a powerlifter needing help with his weights but that's what mothers do.
Our parents are always waiting on us, carrying us, supporting us and giving us a lift when we need it.
I imagine that there are no hurdles for parents or burdens that they would not lift for their children and I am reminded of the story of Donald Trump's father who is believed to have bought $3,000,000 worth of chips from his son's failing casino.
When the chips are down, you know who you can count on. I hope that people appreciate everything their parents do but I don't think they don't get enough recognition for all they do.
Even the Scottish band The Proclaimers wouldn't walk 500 miles and then walk 500 more if it meant picking up weight lifting equipment for you, especially on International Women's Day.
Luckily for Maria, the man was unable to sell the weights and she got to enjoy the weekend.
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