Ellie for an untitled entry in this thread pointing a worried young man to a Planned Parenthood white paper aimed at destigmatizing masturbation. Way to go, Ellie. (And by the way, Romantic Rose has posted some wise and reassuring entries to that same thread.)

Takes me back to my own peer-counselling days as a teen. And reminds me of another “How cool was my mom?” story:

She came to visit me for a weekend during my first few months at university (we’re talking fall 1974 here). I took her on a campus tour, winding up at the student peer-counselling centre where I was a volunteer.

Among other activities, we gave talks to other students in the dorms and at local high schools. Our specialty was sex education – e.g., birth control, STD prevention, and the like. We had put together a quiz about these issues, and a pile of those questionnaires was prominently displayed on the counselling centre’s shelves.

Now, the volunteer peer counsellors were a tiny, tightly knit group who’d become my campus “family” of sorts: big brothers and sisters (all older than I was) who’d taken me under their wing, trained me, etc. Even though it was a Saturday, several of them were hanging out at the centre, which was centrally located and quite cozy, so we all used it as our “home away from home” when we weren’t attending classes or studying. When I arrived with my mom in tow, they were all polite to her, but clearly wondered if I’d lost my marbles: who’d bring their mom into a place like that?

My mother, who would have been 48 at the time (just 4 years younger than I am now) plunked herself down on the sofa and, ever curious, picked up various brochures, pronounced them an excellent idea, and then pounced on the quiz.

“Oh, let’s see how many of these I can get right!” she exclaimed. My friends gulped. I grinned: I knew very well how far ahead of her time she was.

She started reading each question out loud, giving her answers, and looking up at us for confirmation that she’s right. Keenly aware of the quiz’s content – and knowing how mortified they’d be if one of their own parents were trying to “act cool” this way – my friends sank further and further into their chairs. I kept grinning nonchalantly as her accumulated correct responses rocked their world.

Finally, my marvelous mama hit the question “Masturbation can make you go blind. True or False?” She snorted and shook her head. “Well! I can tell you from personal experience that that isn’t true!”

Surprised (okay, shocked) silence was quickly supplanted by laughing applause. Looking back on it now, I think that maybe, in a lifetime full of Great Mom Moments, that might have been the moment I was most proud of her.

If there’s a heaven, my mom is there raising her unique brand of hell.

EDIT: I wonder if this entry will lose me any subscribers? Current count: 24.