I am my mothers daughter.
Just as she is her mothers daughter before me.
ie: We are all our mothers!
Now, I know many would disagree and tell me, 'i'm nothing like my mother!' But I would ask that you take a closer look. When you make a certain movement, did you learn it from her? When you say a certain phrase, do you say it like she did? Do you press your garlic the way you saw your mom do it? For me, in all these ways, the answer is yes.
One of my favorite things learned from my mother, learned from her mother before her, is the sending on of newspaper clippings. These clippings derive mostly from the local paper, but sometimes it's a magazine article, or a great ad seen in a flyer. And not very often, but every once in awhile, it's someone we know from the wedding or the obits page. My mom always laughs and says she can't believe she's sending the articles on to me, but her mom did it to her and now I do it to others, as well.
Today's clippings in the mail ran the gamut: One was on book making (my latest and one of my greatest phases, for sure) with a note at the top 'so sorry about the spills on this- it was next to the stove', while another was an editor's letter with a photo that clearly looked like me and my mother's handwritten note said, 'oj said "who do you think this looks like?"' OJ is my brother. It's a nickname he earned when the grand kids were little and they couldn't say John and said uge-J instead, which morphed into OJ. He's a trusted right hand man at the kitchen table in our house, scouring the LA Times with an eye like no-one else. So, of course he'd see me in a photo that isn't really me. And then, the third clipping, I knew it was coming one of these days... a quick jot from my mom that ended in two exclamation points: More reason for you to move South!! It was an article about the naked dudes in SF. Not just any naked guys, but more and more naked guys in this wacky city. And they're not just walking around naked, but sitting down on the same seats you and I sit on. So, a city ordinance is being talked about here and hopefully is put in place before my mother comes to visit!
2 comments:
Love this. I am so my mother's daughter. It freaks me out that even though I haven't lived in the same state as her for over 15 years we have similar mannerisms, both leave the house always thinking we left our keys behind, and organize our craft supplies the same exact way -- which is not really organized at all but we know exactly where to find what we need in a seconds notice.
This disease - Clip-itis - apparently started on the Carey side of the family and passed to my dad thru association. Cuz I've got it, too... I feel bad when I don't have a little something extra to put in the envelope with my letter.
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