Tottenham Hotspur Daily Links: The Hoddle Of Coffee

The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham news and links for Friday, May 6

Celebrating Mother’s Day

By Fitzie May 6, 2022, 7:30am BST

Good morning and happy friday, hoddlers. may the sixth be with you.

Many people in the US this weekend will be celebrating Mother’s Day (apologies to the UK folks - hope you had a lovely Mother’s Day on 19 March). Your hoddler-in-chief ordered his mother a some tea and a tea mug to celebrate the occassion, and with any luck they will arrive just in time.

Your hoddler-in-chief doesn’t get to celebrate the day that often with his mother, as roughly 3,000 miles separate them. The sacrifices and gifts she has given fitzie largely can take credit for that.

As I reflect on my coming relocation to Washington DC, I’ve become more reflective on my life and the people whose presence had made it worthwhile. Above all has been my family - but my parents in particular.

And I recognise my privilege and how lucky I am to have grown up in an environment like that, and to have a mother who always supported me. Fitzie Sr introduced me to a fair of my passions including tennis and music. And Mrs Fitzie Sr has always shared in those passions and dreams I had for what I wanted to be when I grow up.

Your hoddler-in-chief’s mom is like so many wonderful moms out there: caring, patient, selfless and a constant loving presence.

I reflect on my childhood and the hundreds of times she drove me to tennis or soccer practice, to school, to music lessons. She bought me my first tennis racquet - weeks before tennis tryouts as a freshman in high school. On days where I would be exhausted after running 20 miles during the summer, she would come rescue me from the California heat.

And every night there was food on the table - either cooked by her or my dad. I do not comprehend how it’s possible to juggle a full-time job, three children and myriad other responsibilities. Yet they both did it.

Your hoddler-in-chief’s mother moved him into college in New York and reassured him when he felt he wasn’t good enough. And she flew out to watch me labour through marathons in New York and Washington (which really was more of a vacation for my family).

And every time I visit home in California (which I hope to do more), she sets aside everything on her calendar, cooks my beloved breakfast waffles and patiently puts up with me when I dig through records at Amoeba Records in California.

It’s an unending debt I’ve been trying to pay back for years - by showing in small acts of kindness and love when I can. As she adjusts her schedule to help me move into my new apartment, I realise again the very least I can do is buy dinner.

So I hope everyone has a wonderful Mother’s Day (and belated Mother’s Day - sorry again, Britons). And I hope we can celebrate the wonderful mothers out there and all those whose loving presence make our lives richer.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Astronaut, by Katie Toupin