(Todd A. Smith)
Fathers can complain all they want about not getting enough love on Father’s Day.
While RegalMag.com launched in November (my mother’s birth month) 2006 to highlight inspirational Black men, a woman provided the finances, moral support and editing that got “the online magazine honoring our royal heritage” off the ground.
And even though every day at Regal is Mother’s Day because of that fact, Mother’s Day 2023 is extremely significant.
As we get older, our strong parents become physically weaker as the roller coaster of life begins to take its toll.
With the progression of years, we watch friends and relatives bury their mothers and fathers, knowing unfortunately it will be our day eventually.
But the grind of succeeding in business can sometimes make a person forget what is important and how many sacrifices our mothers have made to get us to a certain level of success.
When I started Regal, my mother was newly retired and had not missed a step from her younger days.
As Regal prepares to blow up (SPOILER ALERT: MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT COMING SOON), my mother became extremely ill.
While the doctors think they found the culprit, therefore allowing for the right treatment, I am reminded how truly up and down life’s roller coaster can become.
I am also more aware of what mothers, especially stay-at-home moms and housewives, go through daily trying to maintain a home.
Some like my mother, held the house down while also working full-time and sometimes attending graduate school.
Men (husbands and sons) often neglect the women in their lives especially if the man is the head breadwinner and the woman runs the household chores.
But taking care of my mother, with help from many in my family, has really shown me that women are superheroes.
Although they do not wear capes or appear in Marvel or DC movies, the world would be in total chaos without them.
Try running a business, running a house, cooking and cleaning and then waking up to do the same things repeatedly.
Don’t you hate it when you have just cleaned, and someone comes and mucks it up again?
Or if the knuckleheads in your family talk trash about the cooking that you did not have to do.
Well mothers and wives put up with that nonsense and lack of appreciation all the time, and they keep it pushing knowing that the family would not strive or survive without their love, compassion and sacrifice.
Just being a woman is a full-time job.
And like Tupac Shakur once said, there’s no way we could ever pay you back.
But the plan is to show you that we understand.
Ladies, you are truly appreciated.
Ignorantly, I once made the comment on my talk show “Regal Roundtable” that if I had a stay-at-home mother as a wife, my meal better be ready when I get home.
And that house better be cleaned.
Man, was that a ridiculous statement to make.
However, when you know better, you should do better.
And sometimes it takes a role reversal to truly understand the other side of the coin a little better.
But on a deeper note, do not let that role reversal come too late when your mother or wife is no longer in your life or no longer healthy enough to do the things that you once took for granted.
My college advisor at Southern University once told me, when I lost my little cousin Charles Brandon Sims to a car accident, that death is for the living.
In that same manner, illnesses can be for those in good health, which means sometimes it takes illnesses or near-death experiences for people to truly appreciate the ones that mean the most to them.
Yes, we all love our mothers.
But sometimes the hustle and bustle in life will not let us slow down enough to really express that to them.
More importantly, sometimes showing that love and appreciation is all that is needed to help them get back on their feet.
Like the cliché goes, give someone their roses while they can still smell them.
So, to my mother, Marjorie Smith I say that much of my success is due to you.
No matter how far-fetched my dreams were you always supported them with your encouragement, with your effort and in with economic support.
Even when you did not understand what an online publication was, you believed in me.
Even when law school did not work out for me and I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and career, you believed in me.
Even as a middle school student when I wanted to become a filmmaker, you believed in me and bought me books to learn the art of screenwriting and movie production.
Even when banks would not approve a loan for Regal Media Group, you believed and approved a personal grant.
Now that the business is on an upward trajectory after many years of struggle, I want God to bless you with enough years to truly enjoy my success.
That is so because without you, there would have never been a business to begin with.
So, while every day is Mother’s Day, you must wait until May 28 for your true Mother’s Day gift.
You’ll get that gift on the same day my readers and viewers get the same gift.
I hope you love it because it is because of you that I have it.
