You know, I would really love to see Boston in the snow." Spoken like the true California girl. My mom arrived in balmy Boston last weekend and came to the conclusion that winter was a figment of my imagination. After our endless winter, I did not appreciate that.
Having a parent visit you in college is like having your two worlds collide. Things that seem mundane to us are all of a sudden novel and exciting to our parents. "No way! There are two dining halls?!" "Peanut butter is available at every meal?!" "There are so many books in the library!"
It's probably a good reminder to see everything through the eyes of someone who doesn't take what we have for granted. Having my mom here was wonderful. She brought with her the warm weather, but also memories of my childhood.
Specifically, her dance moves in the aisles at the gospel choir concert reminded me of the open house for one of my music classes in high school when my musically inclined parents attended. All of the parents were taught a simple rhythm and song to repeat. All of the other parents floated in and out of rhythm, aware that they were in front of their children. But not my parents. You would think that they were performing at the Kennedy Center. They clapped with precision and sang on pitch as their voices soared above all the other parents. Seeing my mom this weekend made memories of this moment flood back to me, but this time in a totally happy way.
When you're younger, your parents have the power to embarrass you to your core. It can make you want to curl up in a ball and retreat from the world. But now that I've moved so far away from my parents, I actually relish those embarrassing moments. I miss my dad walking me to my second grade classroom in his pajamas and singing Al Green all the way to the door. I miss my mom's loud, "Hey ladies!" whenever seeing my high school friends in town. Seeing my mom grooving along to the music from the audience last weekend made me so happy. I was elated that she was here and that my two worlds could come together for even just a little bit.
Seeing parts of Boston through her eyes, as someone who was just visiting for a few days, I saw a lot of beauty that I don't usually stop to appreciate in the usual flow of my life here. We walked for hours and listened to the birds and marveled at the cobblestone streets. We sat and drank coffee on the sidewalk and people watched. While waiting for the T, we saw an older couple ballroom dancing on the platform. The way the light hit a piece of artwork at the MFA was breathtaking. There is so much happening all the time, but you have to take a minute to see all of it. In high school we called these "Joshua Bell Moments." This idea came from a teacher who told me about a time when Joshua Bell played outside the Washington, D.C., metro: Over the course of 45 minutes, only six people stopped to listen.
I think I had forgotten about "Joshua Bell Moments" until this past weekend. As spring is upon us we need to stop for just a minute once in a while and listen to the music - because you never know who is playing.
Eva Batalla-Mann is a sophomore majoring in peace and justice studies and community health. She can be reached at Eva.Batalla_Mann@tufts.edu.
