Listen to thisIrma Bombeck, who made us all laugh so much,
died in 1996. She left us some moving but realistic ideas about kids
“You don't love me!” How many times have your children laid that one on you? Someday when my children are old enough to understand the logic motivating a mother, I'll tell them:
I loved you enough to nag you about where you were going and what time you would get back home.
I loved you enough to let you discover that your friend was a creep.
I loved you enough to stand over you for two hours while you cleaned your bedroom, a job that would have taken me 15 minutes.
I loved you enough to ignore being told what every other mother did or said.
I loved you enough to let you stumble, fall, hurt and fail.
I loved you enough to accept you for what you are, not what I wanted you to be.
Most of all, I loved you enough to say no when you hated me for it.
Bombeck wisdom
“Never lend your car to anyone you have given birth
to!”
Some mothers don't know when their job is finished. They reckon the
longer the children hang around, the better parents they are.
I see children as kites. You spend a lifetime trying to get them off the ground. You run with them until you are both breathless ... they crash ... you add a longer tail. You patch and comfort, adjust and teach “and assure them that someday they will fly.
Finally they are airborne, but they need more string, and you keep letting it out. With each twist of the ball of string, the kite becomes more distant. You know it won't be long before that beautiful creature will snap the lifeline that bound you together and soar “free and alone.
Only then do you know you did your job.
