All About My Mother.

On Monday, I gave my sage wisdom about how it was never really too late to do anything. And it isn’t. You also know that I will shill anything for any reason. But this is a great reason, because it's about an art show.  Being put on by my mother, Maria Bennett Hock. You can find her website at: http://www.mariahock.blogspot.com/. Go to it. Now. Seriously, if she doesn’t get like, 20 views from this, I’m grounded. But I can say with extreme bias that her art is amazing.

    My mother graduated from college much later in life. One of my earliest memories is being left with a babysitter so my mom could attend night classes, but she still never could get the hang of graduating from college. Then, a few years ago, she decided to go to my alma mater, George Mason University. In the process she also ended up stealing my old email address from Mason, but that’s neither here nor there. You should hear her tell stories about some of her freshman classes, it's hilarious. But, my very practical mother, while studying communications (those that watch the Simpsons will get the joke “I know! It’s a fake major.” Those that don’t either get offended, or move on.) decided to focus more on her artwork. She always was pretty good at art, even when I was growing up, but focused on raising her kids instead of her artwork. But while, at Mason, she realized that she was pretty decent at communications, but was freakin’ excellent as an artist.

    Can I say freakin’ excellent about my mother? I’m going to. This is still my blog, and I’m a man! A grown man! Writing this while wearing a “Flash” T-Shirt. It makes me type faster.

    Anyway, I’m writing this because I’m proud of my mother, who could have thrown in the towel years ago and still called it a great life. I mean, her sons are pretty amazing. Well, one is amazing, the other one is writing his blog in a Flash T-shirt, so he’s something else entirely. But I’m proud of her, and I know despite the fact that she doesn’t always understand what I write about and my borderline offensive jokes, she’s still very proud of me, despite the fact that lesser mothers might have given up on me years ago.

    However, she has continued to work on her art, even after her college degree in communications. (Of course, those of with English BA's shouldn't throw stones.) Now she actually has an entire show dedicated to her artwork this weekend at the Lorton Workhouse in well... Lorton, VA. http://www.workhousearts.org/ It’s all wedding themed art, and it’s all also awesome-themed art. Even if you don’t go for the art, go for the fact that the Workhouse used to be a prison, and you can re-enact your favorite scenes from Oz in various locations.  I don't really care, but while you're there you should probably sign the guest book and say you were there for the art show, please. You should totally go see it, because it’s amazing, even if I’m extremely biased because it’s my mother. And because if I don’t say it’s wonderful, I’m grounded.

    Seriously, though, I’m extremely proud of what my mother is doing. I’m extremely proud that she’s managed to find something that she’s not only good at, but that she enjoys. And I’m proud of the fact that she’s putting her work out there to be viewed by the public, when really the best way to kill your confidence in something you’re proud of is to allow the public to view it. (WELL DONE IS NOT AN OPTION FOR A PROPERLY PREPARED STEAK, LADY! Sorry. I went to a bad place.)

    I hope to see you all at Lorton Workhouse on Saturday, June 8th at 6:00 pm to check out this excellent art, and so you can come tell me how proud you are of me that I wrote an entire article on my mother with absolutely no Norman Bates jokes.