It’s Official. I Have Become My Mother.

When you get married you start to notice some little nuances that you’ve carried over from your parents. Little things like the way I load the dishwasher, or fold the laundry, or never finish one task because I remember the 13 others I need to be working on. Big things like the way I handle conflicts with Jeremiah, or who I expect to handle the finances, or what I expect our evenings will be like when he gets home from work.

Then you have babies, and you start to notice that you picked up a great deal more from your mother in particular. Phrases come out of your mouth that you didn’t even know you remembered, “Eat you carrots and you’ll have strong eyes!”, “What did Mama say???”, “Green beans will make you strong, like Popeye!”, “Night, night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed-bugs bight”, “Do you want me to give’em a spankin‘?”(This was said about any inanimate object that caused us to heart our self). These and other little nuggets from childhood crop-up and remind you of your mom.

I was OK with all of these inheritances. Some I would like to work on (like the way Jeremiah and I disagree), but all in all I was happy with these short visits to my childhood. Then, today, I found myself casually making the bed NAKED. 🙂 This is probably something that most of you don’t know about Mom (unless you are one of my sisters or Dad), but growing up Mom did a lot of little things around the house without any clothes on. As a young child I didn’t really notice, I mean wouldn’t all young children rather be without clothes than with them? But at some age you do start to notice and then at another age you start to get a little embarrassed. “Moooommm !!” my sisters and I would say and roll our eyes. She would smile but never offer an explanation. It was just her. If Dad was home, he would say, “Becky, you’re too big’a girl to be walkin‘ around here naked.” However, he always said this with a bit too big of a smile on his face 🙂

So, I had forgotten about Mom’s nakedness until today, when I found myself making our bed without a stitch of clothes on. I didn’t understand why she did it then, but I think I do now. First of all, it’s just me and Pace, just the girls, and since she never had a boy I don’t guess there was ever a reason to be shy about it. Second of all, and I think this is the key, you just get distracted. Most days, I am stepping out of the shower when Pace wakes up. Like I am going to take the time to get dressed when she is crying for me to come get her. Then, I dry my hair (which is too hot for winter clothes), and by that time Pace is ready for lunch. While she’s eating I rush to make the bed since she’s distracted…. Before I know it, I have morphed into my Mom. Doing what I do, without any clothes. I can see now that this is probably exactly how it started for her, and before long, she probably didn’t even notice anymore. So, if you’re planning on dropping by our house in the middle of the day, just make sure you knock first 🙂