Motherly Wisdom

Since Mother's Day is near, I thought I would share a few words of wisdom my mother shared with me as I grew up.  Every mother has her own advice, I would be very interested in hearing the various types of advice we've listened to over the years.

"You are the marrying kind"
When boys started mattering to me, I would come home upset because all of a sudden the boys that used to be my friends wouldn't give me the time of day.  She would tell me, "Don't worry about it, you're the marrying kind."  I remember asking her what that meant, several times.  My mom had various answers but they all hinged on not allowing my self worth to lower in order to date whomever I thought was cute that week.

"If you want it, get it.  It probably won't be there when you come back."
I save my money, so this advice never seemed like a good idea.  However, there were those few times when I weighed the pros and cons of a purchase, only later to return, money in hand, to find the object gone.  This is also the one piece of advice that after the object is gone, I can actually hear my mother's voice in my head on a repeat cycle.  My husband has even recognized the voice on repeat cycle and usually just chuckles quietly as he asks, "you hear your mom right now, don't you?"

"Always wear clean underwear."
This one always seemed like a weird piece of advice to me.  I mean duh and Eww on several levels.  I always heard the "if you get in a car accident" piece with it too, which made me think, if they're more worried about the condition of my knickers, instead of my health, then I'm probably OK.  Plus, if the accident is bad enough, I may have soiled my knickers anyway, so it won't much matter.

As I grow older I now have a different appreciation for this piece of advice and would like to change it up a bit.  "Always wear underwear you won't be embarrassed showing."  Trust me, the day you wear those ratty, holey underwear that you only wear on laundry day...that's the day that you'll rip your pants, or something even more heinous.  He he.

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So as you show homage to your mothers this weekend, remember those silly pieces of advice they gave you along the way.  This might be one of those occasions when you tell her how much you appreciated those pieces of advice.  She won't care that the thanks is several years behind, she'll just be thrilled that you listened, maybe even more than once!

You could even work your children into the mix:
"Hey Princess, did you know a wise woman once told me to always wear clean underwear?!  You should tell Bamma about it, see if she knows this important stuff."
Just imagine...your child proudly walking up to your mom and saying this perfectly like you rehearsed for days.  Oh it's going to be perfect.

This is how it would go in my house:
"Hey Bamma!  Mommy said some old lady told her to always wear clean underwear!  Are you wearing clean underwear?  I'm not!  So we have to go to the store so you can buy me some Tinker Bell panties, before they are gone.  Otherwise mom, says I can't get married."