“In Memory of Joan Moore”
When Heavenly Father told me my mom was going to pass away, a piece of me died with her. We miss you Mom! You can read about my revelation on the “My Testimony” page. My mother in many ways was one of the most influential people in my life. Not to be a cliche, but gay son’s adore their mothers. We love them to the point it is made fun of in shows like Will & Grace, which gay men of my generation just love. I watch it recently and the LGTB+ world has become quite different. The gay spectrum is complicated for even people in the community. Anyways, since I was going thru some difficult trials or life experiences when my mother passed away, I did not really get a chance to grieve her death. For me, my mom was the type of person you could call about literally anything and she would be your hero. Mom, I got that job. Are you CEO yet, son? She literally was my number 1 fan. If somebody said something mean to me or I got a speeding ticket, she would say things like “fuck that asshole” and it would really make you feel like you had somebody in your corner till the end of time. Similarly, when my mom would get angry at us or somebody, often times she let the entire world know about it - on Facebook, via text, in person. She was fearless that way even to those who disagreed with her. Often times my Dad or sisters would say “can you call your mother” to calm her down or give her a new perspective. We had that kind of bond where a gay son could just sit there for hours listening to her talk as if she was my best friend. And most of the time she was.
This one time, we were visiting college to attend in Baltimore - one of my favorite cities as a young Orioles fan - and we found this amazing ESPN zone along the waterfront. Being from Tampa, we were big Bucs fans and we had a chance to sit in the front row leather seats to watch the Bucs and football games all day. Only problem, our flight was leaving early. So of course my Mom who loved her son called my Dad who changed the tickets so we could stay one extra day in Baltimore. Or when she came with me to visit Notre Dame, she became the life of the people we met. It was just the way we were together.
These days, as she is gone and I am older, my running is my connection to my mother. She suffered from addiction as I struggle with it and for both of us running is just an amazing way to clear our minds. One run I do in the State of WA always includes a lot of mothers with their sons and it makes me smile and cry every time I run it. Because I just know Joan Moore would love that I am running just the way she did - “there goes Joan running” the Tampa Palms crew would say. This page is dedicated to those simple memories. The memories that make a life wonderful.
I hope it inspires you to remember your own memories, however unique they are.
