Published: May 10, 2008 06:59 pm            

A much greater appreciation of mom’s wisdom

Okay, I admit it — right here in print, for all the world to see — my mother does indeed know what she’s talking about.

Yes, yes, I know, it came as quite a surprise to me, too, when I finally allowed that to sink in.

Maybe it comes with age, maybe it comes with being married and taking care of my own household and career now. Maybe it’s just as they say about hindsight being 20/20 — who knows.

I realize now she always had my back, even through my turbulent teen years when I probably didn’t deserve it. Mine and my brother’s.

When we were small she’d only buy Cheerios or Kix — none of those sugared-up, candy cereals all our friends got. Sure, it seemed like torture at the time, but looking back, we didn’t have cavities or childhood obesity either. Cowinkydink? I think not.

As we got older, she was always happy to serve as the scapegoat for those events that just didn’t seem like the thing to do at the time. As in — peer: “Hey, going to the keg party on Saturday?” Me: “No way, my mom would kill me.”

It always seemed to work at getting me out of whatever social catastrophe my classmates could dream up. Maybe it just reinforced their opinion that I was a big dork, but hey, I didn’t ever get busted by the cops or get pregnant in high school either.

I also remember never having to sweat skipping school. Mama gave me and my brother both “mental health days” — basically free passes to stay home from school for no particular reason. Of course, the minute we tried to abuse said privilege, it was revoked, so we played it pretty straight.

Even now she’s helping me come to terms with becoming an adult.

My mother said I didn’t have to be older than 25 if I didn’t want to. I figure when I stop getting carded in Wal-Mart trying to buy R-rated movies, I’ll be my true age — until then, I’m 25. This August marks my sixth 25th birthday, by the way.

Her shared wisdom at the time was met more often than not with rolled eyes and huffy snorts but as I run through them now in my mind, it’s hard to argue with advice like “it’s not smart to be stupid,” or “you can’t change people, you can only change the way they make you feel.”

The latter was always my favorite. I heard that every time I’d come home ranting about something one of my idiot friends had done or said (which was often, since I was a teenage girl). And durn it all to Jiminy’s cricket if it wasn’t right!

But I’ve since then got to turn the tables on her with it — she was grousing about someone who just irked her the other day and I could barely keep the smirk off my face when I spouted her famous line. (And yes, I got an eye-roll and a snort!) Turnabout is such sweet fair play!

I now realize this particular adage is what usually keeps me from strangling my spouse, sometimes on a day-to-day basis.

So I’m taking this opportunity to tell the world’s young people — listen to your mothers, they’re smarter than you think, I promise. It’s just a suggestion but of course I’m “old” now, too, so they won’t listen to me either.

Seriously though, I love you Mama. Happy Mother’s Day — you’re still my best friend for ever and ever.



Cristin Ross is a reporter for the Jacksonville Daily Progress. She may be reached at cross@jacksonvilleprogress.com

        

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