Congratulations, You're Now Your Mom
The younguns went back to school today after their long "snow day" weekend. Normally they get sent out the door with a gutfull of cold cereal and maybe a mug of hot cocoa if it's chilly. But today it was frightfully cold-hovering around 10 degrees. My mom guilt wouldn't let them leave without something warm in them. So I quickly whipped up some 'breakfast burritos' while they were getting dressed. Scrambled eggs & cheese wrapped up in a warm tortilla. A hot breakfast is usually a Saturday morning event, but what the hey, this was simple and quick-it wasn't the full monty Saturday fare of pancakes, eggs and bacon. To expedite it even more, I just used a couple of slices of that fakey cheese that we use for grilled cheese sandwiches. Just laid a few torn pieces on the tortilla before piling the eggs on. That stuff melts quicker than regular cheese. And "gooey" is always a plus for my younguns when it comes to food.
My youngest, the food snob, caught onto my ruse immediately.
"Ahhh, Mom...I don't like that cheese!" (Funny, she never complained when I use it for grilled cheese.)
The whiney tone hit just the right button, and before I knew it, the ghost of my Mom possessed me...with a little updating for current events-
"Young lady, there are kids in North Korea who would not only love to have just a sliver of that cheese, but they'd gladly eat the wrapper, too! Now eat up and quit your whining!"
My Mom's geo-political reference had always been Kenya when it came to food showdowns and for me the item of contention had always been cooked carrots, but just for a second there a freaky feeling fell over me...the tone, the inflection...yikes! It's was my Mom! I'm sure most moms can relate to this on one level or another, but this was the first time that I had been conciously aware of parroting my Mom in such a situation. It had always sounded so dumb, so dramatic and silly whenever she said it...and yet, it always worked as I eventually gagged down the mushy orange rounds of cooked carrots, secretly wondering if a boxful of them would survive the trip to Kenya and if I had enough in my piggy bank for postage.
There must be something to it, because my youngest dutifully went ahead and finished it. With exasperated sighs in between bites...just like I had done so many decades ago.
It's funny, the more things change, the more the stay the same-I imagine 20 years from now, she'll have a chance to say the same dang thing to hers and then suddenly be hit with the realization that she had been scolded exactly the same way, long ago and far away.
My youngest, the food snob, caught onto my ruse immediately.
"Ahhh, Mom...I don't like that cheese!" (Funny, she never complained when I use it for grilled cheese.)
The whiney tone hit just the right button, and before I knew it, the ghost of my Mom possessed me...with a little updating for current events-
"Young lady, there are kids in North Korea who would not only love to have just a sliver of that cheese, but they'd gladly eat the wrapper, too! Now eat up and quit your whining!"
My Mom's geo-political reference had always been Kenya when it came to food showdowns and for me the item of contention had always been cooked carrots, but just for a second there a freaky feeling fell over me...the tone, the inflection...yikes! It's was my Mom! I'm sure most moms can relate to this on one level or another, but this was the first time that I had been conciously aware of parroting my Mom in such a situation. It had always sounded so dumb, so dramatic and silly whenever she said it...and yet, it always worked as I eventually gagged down the mushy orange rounds of cooked carrots, secretly wondering if a boxful of them would survive the trip to Kenya and if I had enough in my piggy bank for postage.
There must be something to it, because my youngest dutifully went ahead and finished it. With exasperated sighs in between bites...just like I had done so many decades ago.
It's funny, the more things change, the more the stay the same-I imagine 20 years from now, she'll have a chance to say the same dang thing to hers and then suddenly be hit with the realization that she had been scolded exactly the same way, long ago and far away.
posted by white trash republican at Monday, December 04, 2006
2 Comments:
My mom tried to use "there is a child in China would just love to have the chance to eat those brussel sprouts!" I got up from the table,went to the kitchen and began to wrap my brussel sprouts in aluminum foil. My mother asked me what I was doing and I said "Getting em ready to send to that kid in China!"
Devra, You were way more bolder than me!
: )
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