Mother’s Day

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom and Toni.

I used to have a little routine one night a week that I found extremely relaxing – holing up in my room to read vacuous women’s magazines, sip wine and generally block out the rest of the world. On one such misspent evening, I came across one of those reader write-in conceits where motivated souls compete for the best answer to a vaguely trite question in order to win, say, a basket of shampoos.

Three pages were filled with the alternately heartfelt and merely curious answers to “what is the most important thing your mother ever taught you?” Now it’s one thing to ponder such a question and another entirely to publicly reply with a reference to “Wind Beneath My Wings,” and, yet, I read most of them. Everything from perfectly applying lipstick to surviving grief to cultivating the elixir of self-esteem.

How to decide... Is it what you used most? What changed you most at that time? What spins the kindest tale?

Disappointingly, perhaps, the most important thing my mother taught me is rather banal, not the sort of thing that inspires, but perhaps, still, some of the best advice I know.

Stop eating when you’re full.

If I recall correctly, advice first given to her by her father. And, oddly, a guiding principle that can do most anything from keep a person thin to teach satisfaction to avoiding being owned by the things once owned by you. In a country where so many of us are born armed to the teeth with privilege, recognizing what is enough is a rare lesson indeed.

For this, warm chocolate chip cookies and homemade Halloween costumes – Happy Mother’s Day.

Comments

[Alison]

In my family, we often talk about the three life lessons passed down from our mom:

1. Every situation is what you make it.
2. Learn to out-nice even the most mean-spirited of people.
3. Don't yuck other people's food.

I could have used the one from your mom as well. I was taught by my father to clean my plate, always. It took years to break myself of that unhealthy habit.