If you want to see a comedy of errors, you should see me teach the quadratic equation. I have been known to confuse myself so badly that I can’t tell you my name. This shouldn’t be too surprising considering that I routinely add two and two and come up with five.
Have you ever finally seen what was in front of you the whole time and been totally baffled at how you didn’t see it in the first place? Some of the things my mom said and did when I was a child made no sense to me.
When I was little and would get sick, my mom would brush my bangs away from my feverish brow, and she would say, “I wish I could take this instead of you.” I remember thinking she must be feverish herself to wish something like that.
And then there were other times when I would get into trouble, and Mom would spank me or later on ground me, and she would say, “This hurts me more than it does you.” And then I knew she was crazy because there was no way it could be hurting her more than me.
Then I had a daughter of my own, and I don’t know of a single time when Madison was sick or had a headache that I would not have gladly taken it so she didn't have to suffer.
There were times when she got into trouble, and I had to punish her. I’ll be a monkey’s uncle if Mom wasn’t telling the truth on that one too. I was still upset long after she was back to playing and feeling fine.
There were so many things I didn’t understand about being a mom until I became one. So many things I didn’t think of or pay attention to until Madi came along. For example, one day Madi was in a dressing room trying on outfit after outfit and asking my opinion and talking my ear off the whole time. I pulled out my phone, called my mom and apologized for all the times I had done that to her. After she stopped laughing she told me to make sure I enjoyed every minute.
I got so lucky when God was handing out moms. He gave me the very best. She’s answered every phone call, given sound advice, let me ramble on telling every detail of stories that could have been told in half the time. I can’t think of a single time she hasn’t been there for me.
One of the best ways to give you insight into what kind of a mom she is her pet peeve. She gets so upset when she sees a parent walking at a quick clip while a toddler holding their hand struggles to keep up. From the very beginning she walked by my side, holding my hand and moving at a pace that I could handle, not the pace she would have preferred. I think in many ways she’s still walking at the pace I need. Isn’t that what good moms do? They walk beside us, holding our hands when we need them to and encouraging us to soar higher when we need that as well - even though all they want to do is hold on a little tighter for just a little longer.
So getting back to math… I figure if I’m HALF as good at being a mom as my mom is, I’ll be doing just fine.
