My mother always wears a seatbelt, even if it's just to drive from her front door to the mailbox at the end of her driveway. She does this because when we were growing up, she was a stickler for making sure everyone in the car wore a seatbelt. If she were to get in to an accident (say, if a rogue deer leapt in front of her car as she rolled down the driveway at 5 m.p.h., causing her to fly through the windshield) she wouldn't be able to live it down. It's a constant in life I can always count on: the sun will always rise, water will always be wet, and Mom will always wear her seatbelt.
What is/was your mother's most endearing quality? I asked some of my friends this week in honor of Mother's Day, and here's what they came up with:
"My mother panics every single time she reaches into her purse for her keys and doesn't find them immediately. I've known her for almost 39 years and she has never ONCE lost her keys. They are always there. I find it somehow adorable that she still worries about the possibility."—Kerri Tobin Lentz, daughter of Sheila
“[I always remember Mom] in her muumuu and those $1.00 sneakers in every color! And no shoe laces! The proper attire for every occasion.” —Diana Manley Howard, daughter of Peggy
“My mother's enduring quality is her ability to assume the worst is certain to happen, so you’d better be prepared. In high school, whenever I was getting ready for a date, she would pop into the mist of White Rain hairspray in my bathroom and hand me a quarter—to put in my shoe— "just in case." As in, she thought enough of the possibility that my beau for the evening would not deign to return me home that I had to carry change in my shoe. I'll say this for mom—who for years was the Red Cross volunteer in charge of our local hurricane shelter when I was growing up in Florida—I knew it would be well stocked with toilet paper.” —Elizabeth Stone, daughter of Patricia
“We can debate whether we deserved what we got or whether as a young mother she didn’t know any better, but one thing was abundantly clear my entire childhood, [Mom] was never wrong. I don’t mean to say that I’ve grown up to realize my mother was right, I mean to say that my mother never would admit to being wrong, even when it was painfully obvious she was. And try as I might, I was never able to get even an ounce of apology or admission of wrong doing, not even a shirking statement of “mistakes were made.” —Excerpt from the blog post “No Man Is an Island” by Michael Palumbo, son of Dina (You can read his whole entertaining entry here: http://wordblurg.com/wordpress/no-man-is-an-island/)
And:
“Growing up in my house, it was never a question. No one had to ask ‘Where did you hear words like that?’ The answer was always obvious: My mother.”—Excerpt from the blog post “Culture Shocking the Elderly,” also by Michael Palumbo, son of Dina (You can read the whole hilarious entry here: http://wordblurg.com/wordpress/culture-shocking-the-elderly/)
"My mom used to cough a lot. Not because she was sick; she used it to cover up the sound of a fart." —Dan Foley, son of Alice (Hoyt)
Like my former classmates Kerri and Mike, or my former islandmates Diana and Elizabeth, or even my fellow horror writer Dan, I, too, have a mother with quirky habits, amusing traits, and sometimes totally bizarre behaviors. She is who she is, and I’m sure she has her reasons that sound completely sane to her. The good news is, I never put my car in drive before putting on my seat belt. My mother would kill me otherwise.
Happy Mother’s Day, everyone!
What is/was your mother's most endearing quality? I asked some of my friends this week in honor of Mother's Day, and here's what they came up with:
"My mother panics every single time she reaches into her purse for her keys and doesn't find them immediately. I've known her for almost 39 years and she has never ONCE lost her keys. They are always there. I find it somehow adorable that she still worries about the possibility."—Kerri Tobin Lentz, daughter of Sheila
“[I always remember Mom] in her muumuu and those $1.00 sneakers in every color! And no shoe laces! The proper attire for every occasion.” —Diana Manley Howard, daughter of Peggy
“My mother's enduring quality is her ability to assume the worst is certain to happen, so you’d better be prepared. In high school, whenever I was getting ready for a date, she would pop into the mist of White Rain hairspray in my bathroom and hand me a quarter—to put in my shoe— "just in case." As in, she thought enough of the possibility that my beau for the evening would not deign to return me home that I had to carry change in my shoe. I'll say this for mom—who for years was the Red Cross volunteer in charge of our local hurricane shelter when I was growing up in Florida—I knew it would be well stocked with toilet paper.” —Elizabeth Stone, daughter of Patricia
“We can debate whether we deserved what we got or whether as a young mother she didn’t know any better, but one thing was abundantly clear my entire childhood, [Mom] was never wrong. I don’t mean to say that I’ve grown up to realize my mother was right, I mean to say that my mother never would admit to being wrong, even when it was painfully obvious she was. And try as I might, I was never able to get even an ounce of apology or admission of wrong doing, not even a shirking statement of “mistakes were made.” —Excerpt from the blog post “No Man Is an Island” by Michael Palumbo, son of Dina (You can read his whole entertaining entry here: http://wordblurg.com/wordpress/no-man-is-an-island/)
And:
“Growing up in my house, it was never a question. No one had to ask ‘Where did you hear words like that?’ The answer was always obvious: My mother.”—Excerpt from the blog post “Culture Shocking the Elderly,” also by Michael Palumbo, son of Dina (You can read the whole hilarious entry here: http://wordblurg.com/wordpress/culture-shocking-the-elderly/)
"My mom used to cough a lot. Not because she was sick; she used it to cover up the sound of a fart." —Dan Foley, son of Alice (Hoyt)
Like my former classmates Kerri and Mike, or my former islandmates Diana and Elizabeth, or even my fellow horror writer Dan, I, too, have a mother with quirky habits, amusing traits, and sometimes totally bizarre behaviors. She is who she is, and I’m sure she has her reasons that sound completely sane to her. The good news is, I never put my car in drive before putting on my seat belt. My mother would kill me otherwise.
Happy Mother’s Day, everyone!
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