Mother's Day notes...

"You don't really understand human nature unless you know why a child on a merry-go-round will wave at his parents every time around - and why his parents will always wave back." ~William D. Tammeus

As I was reading through the "Quote Garden" this morning I came to the one posted above. It says a lot in that the children do wave every time they go around and parents certainly do wave back. Why is it? I think for the child, it's their way of saying "here I am, look at me, look what I can do!" For the parent perhaps the wave is simply the answer back, "I see you and I love you!"

I don't know really but it seems to me the child feels as if they have left their parents, if only for the brief time it takes to make the circle, and then when they come back around, it's as if they need to let their parents know they came back and they are happy to see them waiting there. Maybe it makes them feel secure? Indeed if the parents were gone when the merry-go-round came full circle, the child would then be scared and worried and the ride would be greatly saddened. The parent's wave back could be taken as their way of letting the child know they will always be there for them? Deep stuff huh?

"Sweater, n.: garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly." ~Ambrose Bierce

This is so absolutely true. The children rarely feel the cold as they are endlessly carefree; running, jumping and playing no matter the temperature. It is the mom who feels the chill, right? Once she does, there's no point trying to get out of wearing the sweater. If she's cold - you're cold. Put it on or go inside...those are your choices! LOL

"Sing out loud in the car even, or especially, if it embarrasses your children." ~Marilyn Penland

I love this quote. It reminds me of Jarrett when he was just a little guy. Rather than take the bus, he preferred to go over to his granny's (not my Mom, his other granny) house in the morning before school. She would fix him breakfast, make sure he was dressed and had his backpack ready to go. No wonder he loved it! She loved him coming there and certainly he loved going. I was driving him to his granny's house one morning and we had the radio on and I was singing with whoever it was - I don't remember now but I was getting into it. You know how you do when you're in the car...LOL

Jarrett felt the need to tell me that he wished I wouldn't sing that song. Of course I had to know why. His response? He told me "because Jodi sings it so much better" hahahahahaha! I totally cracked up. Jodi is his stepmother and apparently she has a better singing voice than I do :) at least in his opinion. I've never heard her sing :)  Jodi was a really good stepmother to my kids and she and I got along just fine. That was just so funny I thought you would enjoy it.

This is also a good place to add that my mother-in-law was and still is one of the sweetest people you ever want to meet. She is a strong lady, a caring lady and very special to all of us. Regardless of what happens in our lives, we'll always be family and friends. Happy Mother's Day Granny :)

And to all you moms out there who read this, "Happy Mother's Day" to you too. I could go on and on with stories about my Mom and you would find them all quite humorous but isn't it better for me to let you think about stories of your own Mom and the things she did instead? No matter your differences, she's still your mom and believe it or not, she did the best she could.

Okay, maybe just a few stories...:)

For us, we got lucky. Our Mom is hilarious. She's not the typical "grandma" type but that's okay, the kids have Granny to be the typical "grandma" type for them. When Mom made us big pans of popcorn to snack on at night my friends thought it was weird but we all liked popcorn and to this day, we all still do.

She read to us from the "Bookhouse Books" and we would lay there in her bed and soak up the stories of the "Water Babies" and "The Quick Running Squash." She made us go to church, which none of us were very fond of at the time but now that we're older, we realize it was a good thing.

On many a Sunday after church we would all pile into the car and Dad would drive us out to grandma's house (Mom's Mom) in Oviedo. Us four kids would inevitably fight and he would inevitably scold us and threaten to stop the car and spank us on the side of the road if we didn't behave. It never happened and we pretty much knew it wouldn't...He would buy us bubble gum and then holler at us when we chewed it with our mouths open. Mom would always ask him why he bought it for us when he knew we were going to chew it with our mouth's open? He called it smacking our gum and you know what, I can't stand the sound of it either!  

Mom had a good reach though, got to give her credit for that...if at anytime one of us mouthed off to her in the car, she would reach back there and swat the heck out of us. Well, rarely was it ever me, of course... hahahaha! It must be a special trait of Mothers the world over - their arms seem to grow longer when it comes time to swat a bratty kid in the back seat of a car...lol! I know mine did :) Neccy threatened her kids with a fake sherriff, insisting he would come take them to jail if they didn't behave. I stole that from her and used it on Jarrett when he kept getting out of his carseat :) haha!

My Mom was our Brownie Leader in school, she taught herself to play guitar, she took ceramics. She was a waitress, a secretary and a sun-worshipper. She cooked without a recipe and everything always tasted good (Neccy inherited that from her). She now has arthritis in her hands so badly that when she gives another driver the bird, it looks like she's giving it to herself. Make no mistake though - if she flips you the bird, you must have done some really stupid driving!

And finally, in closing...
"It's not easy being a mother. If it were easy, fathers would do it." ~From the television show The Golden Girls


HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!