Last week I had to go to our church to fill out some paperwork. As I was filling it out, I was chit chatting with the secretaries. And both of them said, "Wow, if we weren't looking at you, we would have thought you were your mother. Your voice sounds just like hers."
Um....WHAT? I thought to myself---that can't be! Take it back! Say it isn't so! But instead I just smiled and laughed. As I got outside, I just had to chuckle to myself. Because, truth is, I am becoming more and more like my mother each day.
Now say that to me 10 years ago and I probably would have cried for days and went into a deep depression. When I was younger, I did not appreciate my mother and would have told you--"I am never going to grow up and be like my mother!!!" But as I get older, and wiser, I realize that becoming more like my own mother is not such a bad thing. My mom is one of the smartest people I know. I admire her for her hard work and the love she gives her family. I can honestly say that she is one of my heroes.
I know that I am turning into my mother when I makes lists. I LOVE making lists. If I don't make a list of what I need to do, I feel like I'll forget it. I am paranoid about missing things--appointments, events, etc. I put reminders in my phone like a crazy person. I don't just have it alert me an hour before the event--I have it alert me 1 day prior, 2 hours before, and at the time of the event. I make lists of what to get when I go shopping. I make lists of what I need to get done for the week. I make lists for my husband (he loves them...NOT). And I know that I got this trait from my mother who also makes lists for EVERYTHING. Growing up, during the summer, I always knew when I woke up and went downstairs to eat breakfast that on the kitchen table would be my "list". This list would consist of the chores I needed to get done before I could have any "fun". I always went through and did the easy tasks first so I could cross them off and it would look like my list was getting shorter. I know that once my kids get older, I will make them lists. Why break tradition now? (I am a third generation list maker--my mom got this trait from my grandpa!)
I also know that I am turning into my mother when I annoyingly rip the covers off my sleeping husband and yell "Rise and Shine, morning is a-wasting!" I think it's funny to do myself, but growing up when my mom did this to us on a summer morning when all we wanted to do was sleep in, I was SUPER annoyed by it. And if we didn't get up the first time, she'd keep doing it. I am totally going to do this to my kids once they are older.
Here are some other things my mom made us do that I will probably end up doing to my kids also...
One summer, she decided that my sister and I were not friendly enough. So we had to say hi to 10 strangers within the course of the day before we could play. My sister and I road our bikes around town each morning looking for "strangers" so we could say hi to them. The people in our town probably thought we were crazy riding around yelling "HI" to everyone. But it really did make us more friendly in the end.
One of my jobs I often had to do was dust. And let me tell you, there was no "cheater" dusting in our house. Sometimes I'd try to just move things and only dust in the front of them so it looked like they were completely dusted--I would always get busted! My mom would put on a white glove and "check" my dusting. If she got five finger tips full of dust, I had to start all over and re-dust until it was done correctly. I HATED dusting. But looking back at it now, she was just trying to teach me a lesson not to do things half-a$$ed.
I was very involved in our local 4-H Club when I was younger. Every year, we would sign up for about 100 projects to take to our county fair. Each year the fair is in August. But I would procrastinate and not start on my projects until June or July and then it'd be a mad rush to try and get them done on time. My mom would make me complete a certain number of projects a day leading up to the fair so that I'd get them all done. I complained and complained about this. I wanted to go outside and play with my friends! But now I am thankful for this. 4-H taught me so many life lessons--how to cook, bake, sew, and much more! My kids are definitely going to join 4-H!
I'm sure my mom is going to cringe reading this post. But I really do truly appreciate all she made me do when I was younger as it has shaped me into the person I am today. Love you, Mom!
P.S. Now that this post is done, I can cross it off my "To-Do List"!!!!!!!!!! :-)
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