Another Mother’s Day is on the way.
If you still have your mom in your life, I envy you. (call her right now, I mean it!)
If you have lost yours, I understand the emptiness.
Mothers give the best advice. They are our first teachers. They seem to know everything instinctively. They loved us first and they loved us best. If we are super lucky, our moms are also our best friends. Superheroes without capes.
They had awesome power. They had power to shape us, encourage us, scare us and send us to therapy. Nobody can push your buttons quite like your mother.
I reached out to some friends, male and female, to find out what advice or warnings they still remember, reject or find themselves now repeating in their mother’s voice.
There must have been some published in the official mom’s guide because they ALL read from it.
Do any of these sound familiar?
- Don’t make that face or it’ll freeze that way.
- Don’t eat watermelon seeds or one will grow in your stomach.
- If you don’t straighten up we’ll send you to military school.
- Always wear clean underwear in case you are in an accident. (wouldn’t all the blood get them dirty?)
- Don’t sit on cold cement in your shorts or you’ll get piles. (no clue what piles were but it sounded painful)
- I hope you have kids half as bad as you are.
Then, there were the things mom or grandmas said that got lost in translation.
“My granddaughter needs a new bed so I am saving up money to buy her a crouton.” (she meant futon)
“If you go outside with wet hair, you’ll go mad.” (gosh, that sounds extreme)
“Are you moving into an apartment or a condom?” (umm)
“Your ears have so much dirt in them, you could grow potatoes.”
Sometimes, I couldn’t tell if mine loved me or found me annoying. I assume both.
“You can’t have a bath or use the phone in a thunderstorm because the lightning will strike and electrocute you.” That warning seemed in stark contrast to the times she told me to “go outside and play in traffic.”
As maddening as it sometimes was, mom was always right. Mine had some advice that made no sense but a whole lot more that did.
Once she told me not to marry a man with a bad back. I don’t know if that was because he wouldn’t be able to help me lift stuff or if it had to do with sex. I never asked. I did not want to know.
As for best advice: my mom always said, “Never brag about the good things you do or how well you do them. If you’re good at what you do people will know it and you won’t have to tell them.”
Two of my friends (sisters) both told me their mom always made them feel special and safe.
I liked that word. Safe. What could be better?
They shared with me that their mother always lined the girls up before school and smothered them with “school kisses” to last them through the day. She would stand at the back door and wave at them until they couldn’t see her anymore. At night, she’d be back in that same spot to welcome them home... until the day she wasn’t.
On this upcoming day, to honour everyone and anyone who 'mothers', may we all feel safe with our memories.
