The Daily Post Prompt – Deny
There are times I get distracted. You know:
- Going into one room to do something only to have another something catch your eye …
- Bending down to pick up a cracker crumb from the kitchen floor and noticing the nasty baseboard …
- Walking into Walmart for one item and coming out with a cart …
- Searching for a document on your computer and spending the day re-organizing your entire file system …
- Starting one story and getting highjacked by another …
I have a name for this and no, it isn’t dementia (Although, I wouldn’t ask my husband) – I call it – the squirrels are loose. More recently, however, I’ve come to realize it’s something more sinister – Mother!
Yep, the ghost of my mother is haunting me. She’s not only dancing in the middle of the squirrels, she’s leading the choir.
Women can deny it all they want that they’re nothing like their mother, but the older we get, the more we become our mothers. And, don’t give me that sappy crap, “I would be honored to be like my mother.” Bull malarkey! Okay, maybe one or two of you … but, I digress.
Growing up, mother was our version of Mr. Clean, and let me tell you, baldy couldn’t hold a candle to mom!
By the time I was a teenager, I knew how to vacuum, mop, strip and wax floors, scrub tile grout, baseboards, and make windows sparkle! You would have thought the Pope was coming for Sunday dinner (we were Baptist, but still).
When she cleaned house, she supervised. At the time I thought I had the meanest mother on the earth, but I did learn some valuable lessons along the way:
- “If you don’t do it right the first time, you’ll just have to do it again.”
- “You don’t have to have a lot of money, but you can be clean.”
- “Hard work never hurt nobody.”
- “I know the definition of elbow grease – “Put some elbow grease in that.”
I’m sure there are more, but my mind has wandered. So, back to my long, drawn-out point – See?
Last week, while picking up a crumb, I noticed my baseboards, which lead to me (yes me) painting every baseboard in my line of sight, 4 doors, reorganizing my junk drawers, pantry, closet, re-installing my computer software, and joining the Chapter Buzz, 10,000-word Challenge for October!
My arthritic body is faring better than I expected, but my mind is tired as hell. I think I might be possessed.So, yes deny all you want that you look, act, or say things like your mother – but it happens to the best of us, like it or not.
So, yes deny all you want that you look, act, or say things like your mother – but it happens to the best of us, like it or not.
P.S. Did I tell you I’m making homemade sweet potato jerky for my Bichon because they’re her favorite and the stores stopped carrying them?!!
Jesus, mom! Give it a rest!
I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject. Join the conversation. Talk to me or tell me your story. I’m all ears.
Although I would never call myself a poet under any circumstances, I can’t imagine a girl alive that didn’t at some point try her hand at writing poetry. Usually, and I’m guessing (wink, wink) every girl has poured her young heart out in rhyme and unreasonableness. I’m sure my cow pasture journal was filled with sappy attempts. I don’t have the remnants of those but I do have one special poem, written while in high school with an amusing little back story.
COW PASTURE CHRONICLES 