A Mother's Nose / A Mother Knows

My Mom was really very sly. Oh, she had the sweet Mother thing down pat, but she was shrewd. I like to tell this story about her and me;

I used to visit my Mom in the hospital. Whenever I was in town I would go to see her. I have always been a smoker of the left handed persuasion and this was an issue between us. So before I would visit her I would eat something, or have a mint or swish mouthwash. Then I would walk into her room and bend over to kiss her. The result was always the same. She would ask me why I was still smoking. I would ask her what makes you think I still smoke. She would always answer the same way- “A Mother always knows.”

About a month before she passed away I went to see her at home. It was very clear that she was going fast and this might be the last time I would see her. I went through the usual routine of mints and gum etc. Then I walked up to her bed, bent down and kissed her. I got the same result as always, “When are you going to quit smoking?”

Looking at her laying there dying I had to know the answer to a question that had bothered me for several years, How did she know? So I asked her, “Mom, how do you know I’ve been smoking? Every time I see you I try to cover it up- but you know! And I’ve got to have an answer- how do you know?”

She looked at me with amusement in her dying eyes as she answered, “It’s in your beard.”