Now that I’m in my thirties and have lived in at least seven different places since moving out of my parents’ house at eighteen, I’ve realized what a gullible little fool I was as a child. With a baby and a husband to clean up after constantly, I see why my grandparents had nine children. Because, although more children equals more mess, more children also equals more forced labor without violating child labor laws.
I actually didn’t think my brother, sister and I had to work that hard when we were kids, but more than once a visiting neighbor kid or friend would comment on how much work we had to do. Once, a girl questioned if I always had to work so hard after my dad asked me to carry an empty bucket about 200 feet to the barn. Clearly our worlds were very different as I didn’t even consider that task to be “work.” We did regularly help clean the house, make dinner, do the dishes, and mow the yard. In the summers, we helped in the hayfields most days. And also in the summers, because my mom was a teacher and was home with us the entire break, we were roped into projects like cleaning out the basement or pulling weeds in the garden. I remember doing a lot of whining and complaining (with the help of my siblings) and that always resulted in my mother’s most infamous words: If we all just work together, we’ll get this done much faster.
To this day, it’s an inside joke with my siblings. Any time we are all together, you’ll hear one of us ring out at some point, “If we all just work together…” and then laughter ensues. (The phrase has been shortened to those six words over the years.) But in reality, I find myself using this mantra in my current life. It rings true. Perhaps moms do know best.
As my Mom nears retirement and begins her final school year next week, she has taken on a much more leisurely pace in life. She spends a large part of her summer break reading and napping now, and much less of it cleaning out the basement or pulling weeds in the garden. This past weekend, I realized that this change has brought about a new Momism.
Saturday morning my mom and I got up early, grabbed some coffee, and hit up a few garage sales. We left the house at 6:30am and returned about 10:30am. The husband and baby were batting a hundred, and insisted that I return to town with my mom to run errands (in husband speak this means “please go with her now so I don’t have to go with you later.”) So off we went, with a plan to make three stops. I should have known better as another thing my mom has become infamous for over the years is reeling you in to run one errand and then dragging you along for five or six instead. Five hours and six stops later, as we were leaving the last store, my mom—looking truly befuddled—asked, “Where does the time go?”
So, until we reach that golden age of retirement, and can really wonder “Where does the time go?” it will be another great inside joke for my siblings and me.
And in retrospect, I realize that at about the third hour in, I should have said to my mom, “If we both just work together, we’ll get this done much faster.”
[Also posted at my Moberly Monitor Index blog, Sunny Side Up.]
I actually didn’t think my brother, sister and I had to work that hard when we were kids, but more than once a visiting neighbor kid or friend would comment on how much work we had to do. Once, a girl questioned if I always had to work so hard after my dad asked me to carry an empty bucket about 200 feet to the barn. Clearly our worlds were very different as I didn’t even consider that task to be “work.” We did regularly help clean the house, make dinner, do the dishes, and mow the yard. In the summers, we helped in the hayfields most days. And also in the summers, because my mom was a teacher and was home with us the entire break, we were roped into projects like cleaning out the basement or pulling weeds in the garden. I remember doing a lot of whining and complaining (with the help of my siblings) and that always resulted in my mother’s most infamous words: If we all just work together, we’ll get this done much faster.
To this day, it’s an inside joke with my siblings. Any time we are all together, you’ll hear one of us ring out at some point, “If we all just work together…” and then laughter ensues. (The phrase has been shortened to those six words over the years.) But in reality, I find myself using this mantra in my current life. It rings true. Perhaps moms do know best.
As my Mom nears retirement and begins her final school year next week, she has taken on a much more leisurely pace in life. She spends a large part of her summer break reading and napping now, and much less of it cleaning out the basement or pulling weeds in the garden. This past weekend, I realized that this change has brought about a new Momism.
Saturday morning my mom and I got up early, grabbed some coffee, and hit up a few garage sales. We left the house at 6:30am and returned about 10:30am. The husband and baby were batting a hundred, and insisted that I return to town with my mom to run errands (in husband speak this means “please go with her now so I don’t have to go with you later.”) So off we went, with a plan to make three stops. I should have known better as another thing my mom has become infamous for over the years is reeling you in to run one errand and then dragging you along for five or six instead. Five hours and six stops later, as we were leaving the last store, my mom—looking truly befuddled—asked, “Where does the time go?”
So, until we reach that golden age of retirement, and can really wonder “Where does the time go?” it will be another great inside joke for my siblings and me.
And in retrospect, I realize that at about the third hour in, I should have said to my mom, “If we both just work together, we’ll get this done much faster.”
[Also posted at my Moberly Monitor Index blog, Sunny Side Up.]
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