So glad Rose (and everyone else here) has such a wonderful relationship with their mom. Some of us have stopped all communication with them for the sake of their emotional well-being.
Mom is now 90. The shoe is on the other foot now. My sisters, our husbands and two of her grandchild (other one still needs help himself) try to take care of her. She was living alone until just before Mother’s Day this year, when it became too obvious she could no longer stay home alone. (She gave her car as she decided it cost too much and was alone in the house too much after that to keep her mind active.)
This past Saturday husband and I took her for a leg scan and I was alone in the room with her and the tech doing the test. As I was sitting there I remembered and mentioned to her about when she took me to have my collar bone X-rayed when I was 3 years old when I broke it – bounced on their bed – went up in the air, came down on the floor, even though dad was sitting with me. Dad is gone for around 30 years.
Former NYC Mayor Ed Koch has said of his mom – one mother can take care of 6 children, but 6 children cannot take care of one mom.
If men only considered the huge load of both work and responsibility that a ‘housewife and mother’ carries, there’d be no more of the disparaging remarks about that career. I’m now a ‘househusband’, and I can not figure out how most housewives manage to do all that’s required. And that’s understanding that I was raised by a woman who taught me profound respect for the tasks of maintaining a home, and how to do them.
In the early 1950s, I was one of the very few males who knew how to shop for groceries, cook and serve a wide variety of tasty nourishing meals, do a family laundry, do sewing and repairs on clothing, darn sox, properly clean a house, take out garbage, and grow a vegetable garden. I took a lot of heat from my peers, until they needed clothing repaired or wanted to share the garden produce, or to come to a meal at our house.
When I was about 4, I challenged Mother about teaching me all this “girl stuff”. She gave me that Mother of All Things look and then said, “You are at college living in a dorm, or living in an apartment. Who will do these things that you need done?” I stared at her for a moment while my mind ground at this inescapable logic, and then replied, “My girlfriend?”
After Mother finished laughing until her sides hurt, she hugged me and said, “Well, you might have a nice girlfriend at that, especially if you can share the work load of doing the household chores.” That made so much sense that I stopped resisting learning what she was trying to teach.
And that says absolutely nothing about the idea of carrying around a growing live weight of up to 35 or 40 pounds for nine months, and then forcing something the size of two or three cantaloupes out of my body, and then providing nourishment for that newborne ten to fifteen times a day (and night) every day … all while doing all that other ‘housewife’ stuff.
If I never hear the phrase “… just a housewife …” again in my life, it will be 100 years too soon.
paranormal about 5 years ago
Hang up Rose, before you become an infant!!!
verticallychallenged Premium Member about 5 years ago
I miss talking to my mom. <3
Wren Fahel about 5 years ago
Know-It-All
The little girl of 6 years old
She thinks she knows it all
She picked up everything she needs
Since starting school last fall
The young girl at 11 years
She thinks she knows it all
She makes a scornful/wistful face
When given a new doll
The young woman at Sweet 16
She thinks she knows it all
She’s “not a kid” she tells her mom
When curfews are installed
The woman 21 years old
She thinks she knows it all
She’s just starting out on her own
And answering work’s call
The older woman frail and tired
As many years have turned
She realizes now that she
Still has a lot to learn
© “Amalthea Celebras” K.C. Fahel 22 September 1993
JudyHendrickson about 5 years ago
yeahhh !! same here!!! makes me wish Ishouldve listened more to my mom!!
Bruce1253 about 5 years ago
At 65 what I have learned is that most times the questions are more interesting than the answers.
Nobody_Important about 5 years ago
So glad Rose (and everyone else here) has such a wonderful relationship with their mom. Some of us have stopped all communication with them for the sake of their emotional well-being.
hagarthehorrible about 5 years ago
I love this mom daughter talk.
mafastore about 5 years ago
Mom is now 90. The shoe is on the other foot now. My sisters, our husbands and two of her grandchild (other one still needs help himself) try to take care of her. She was living alone until just before Mother’s Day this year, when it became too obvious she could no longer stay home alone. (She gave her car as she decided it cost too much and was alone in the house too much after that to keep her mind active.)
This past Saturday husband and I took her for a leg scan and I was alone in the room with her and the tech doing the test. As I was sitting there I remembered and mentioned to her about when she took me to have my collar bone X-rayed when I was 3 years old when I broke it – bounced on their bed – went up in the air, came down on the floor, even though dad was sitting with me. Dad is gone for around 30 years.
Former NYC Mayor Ed Koch has said of his mom – one mother can take care of 6 children, but 6 children cannot take care of one mom.
SrTechWriter about 5 years ago
If men only considered the huge load of both work and responsibility that a ‘housewife and mother’ carries, there’d be no more of the disparaging remarks about that career. I’m now a ‘househusband’, and I can not figure out how most housewives manage to do all that’s required. And that’s understanding that I was raised by a woman who taught me profound respect for the tasks of maintaining a home, and how to do them.
In the early 1950s, I was one of the very few males who knew how to shop for groceries, cook and serve a wide variety of tasty nourishing meals, do a family laundry, do sewing and repairs on clothing, darn sox, properly clean a house, take out garbage, and grow a vegetable garden. I took a lot of heat from my peers, until they needed clothing repaired or wanted to share the garden produce, or to come to a meal at our house.
When I was about 4, I challenged Mother about teaching me all this “girl stuff”. She gave me that Mother of All Things look and then said, “You are at college living in a dorm, or living in an apartment. Who will do these things that you need done?” I stared at her for a moment while my mind ground at this inescapable logic, and then replied, “My girlfriend?”
After Mother finished laughing until her sides hurt, she hugged me and said, “Well, you might have a nice girlfriend at that, especially if you can share the work load of doing the household chores.” That made so much sense that I stopped resisting learning what she was trying to teach.
SrTechWriter about 5 years ago
And that says absolutely nothing about the idea of carrying around a growing live weight of up to 35 or 40 pounds for nine months, and then forcing something the size of two or three cantaloupes out of my body, and then providing nourishment for that newborne ten to fifteen times a day (and night) every day … all while doing all that other ‘housewife’ stuff.
If I never hear the phrase “… just a housewife …” again in my life, it will be 100 years too soon.