There are few things stronger in this world than a mother’s love for her son. Not Superman, Chuck Norris, The Republican Party, or the Democrats for that matter. Not titanium or spider silk, or gravity or The GNP, none of that even comes close to the protective state a mother is in 24 hours a day.

This is most visible when the son is small, like under thirty, and lasts until she takes her last breath. I don’t think there is anything that can be done to break that bond. Even when it should be broken or at least altered. You may try to convince her that her love is being abused or ignored or discarded but you can not make her stop. No force exists that can do that.

We may not be able to understand why in some cases this love is extended, when we as outside observers think it should not be, but we know for certain it will be. James Thurber once said ” Boys are beyond the range of anyone’s sure understanding, at least when they are between the ages of 18 months and 90 years.” I think he left out something. Mothers do. They understand. Blind to facts, or all-knowing, they get right to the core of things, he’s my son I love him. Nothing else matters.

The image above was taken early one spring, high up on the side of Mount Washburn in Yellowstone. This mother and her cub, just out of the den, were spending the day looking for ground squirrels. A sizable group had gathered to watch them and a natural boundary of 100 plus yards formed just on the basis of the looks the mother would give as she surveyed the crowd. You could feel her protectiveness. Such is life, for mothers will be what they will be and that is a fact. Regardless of the problem, regardless of the personal cost, regardless. This is the state of mothers and sons.