While I was growing up, the last thing Mom always asked me prior to leaving the house -whether for school, for playing outside, for family gatherings, for movie goings etc.- was if I had remembered "to go".
Irregardless of my response, Mom would reply "Go, anyway". I would obediently head towards the bathroom, close the door and well, if I had been lying before, she would hear the tinkling noise, purse her lips and shake her head. This ritual was repeated throughout my childhood and then puberty accompanied with a talk-back attitude set in, cutting my Mom off her standard routine. Nevertheless, the practice of "going before leaving the house" was engraved in my mind. This teaching was irrefutably handed down to my children, so they also would avoid public toilet seats.
My mom stopped by work last week to see me and... visit the ladies' room. She set off to do her out-of-the-house-chores which brought her downtown Athens. Mom's 65 year old bladder however is not what it used to be. She forgot herself and drank a glass of water before stepping out and then broke her own golden rule: She forgot "to go" before leaving the house! We both laughed when I scolded her.
Isn't it funny how Time ushers in parent/child reversal roles?
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Recently read:
Debriefing
- Flubberwinkle
- Athens, Greece
- Half of the day they call me "Athena" where I get paid to dabble with computers. The other half of the day I'm called "Mom", but I also have an online secret identity. I am bilingual, so what might look like Greek to you, probably is. I blog because it's cheaper than therapy and I like to make people laugh.
