Sassy Meets Cell Phones
Oh my.
I was sitting reading the Wall Street Journal yesterday, and pondering the shovel/cash in the ground option, and my cell phone buzzed.
My son, the one in his room in time out? Text messaged me.
"Il text u wen i need 2 talk 2 u cus i am stil mad at u"
Excuse me?
Needless to say, his cell phone was removed. I mean... sassy talk through a cell phone?
I'm a little stunned at the regularity in which such statements come from my 12 year old, text or not.
What is the deal with that?
I never spoke to my mother that way until I was at least 18 years old. And bigger than her so when she tried to slap me across the face I could stop her.
I know if she were alive today she'd be enjoying the payback.
The conversation would go something like this...
Mom. You won't believe what Ben just did...
Mmm hmmm, she say, listening.
Kids today, jeez, I'd say.
Mmm hmmm, she'd say, still listening. Over the phone I would not see her amused face but she would be amused.
After listening to me rant for a while, she'd remind me of my sassy mouth.
(I know, it's hard to imagine I ever had a sassy mouth.)
She'd remind me of how her father said the same thing to her, once, long ago. Some things change, she'd say, and some things don't.
She tell me the story of how her father thought Frank Sinatra was walking sex and she should not be listening to such garbage.
I miss the parental reality check she always gave me and the long stories. She so enjoyed hearing about her "babies" giving me a hard time.
It was never completely clean, though.
It was one thing we did well together, being grandmother and mother of my boys. It wasn't about the years of disappointment or the pain, it was about loving these kids so much.
The anger and fury are gone. I will never paint a false picture of her but I'm no longer limited to the color red. She was as complicated as I am.
Ben gets his phone back today. I'm sure it will not be the last time he texts me something that makes me crazy.
And I miss my mother today.
I was sitting reading the Wall Street Journal yesterday, and pondering the shovel/cash in the ground option, and my cell phone buzzed.
My son, the one in his room in time out? Text messaged me.
"Il text u wen i need 2 talk 2 u cus i am stil mad at u"
Excuse me?
Needless to say, his cell phone was removed. I mean... sassy talk through a cell phone?
I'm a little stunned at the regularity in which such statements come from my 12 year old, text or not.
What is the deal with that?
I never spoke to my mother that way until I was at least 18 years old. And bigger than her so when she tried to slap me across the face I could stop her.
I know if she were alive today she'd be enjoying the payback.
The conversation would go something like this...
Mom. You won't believe what Ben just did...
Mmm hmmm, she say, listening.
Kids today, jeez, I'd say.
Mmm hmmm, she'd say, still listening. Over the phone I would not see her amused face but she would be amused.
After listening to me rant for a while, she'd remind me of my sassy mouth.
(I know, it's hard to imagine I ever had a sassy mouth.)
She'd remind me of how her father said the same thing to her, once, long ago. Some things change, she'd say, and some things don't.
She tell me the story of how her father thought Frank Sinatra was walking sex and she should not be listening to such garbage.
I miss the parental reality check she always gave me and the long stories. She so enjoyed hearing about her "babies" giving me a hard time.
It was never completely clean, though.
It was one thing we did well together, being grandmother and mother of my boys. It wasn't about the years of disappointment or the pain, it was about loving these kids so much.
The anger and fury are gone. I will never paint a false picture of her but I'm no longer limited to the color red. She was as complicated as I am.
Ben gets his phone back today. I'm sure it will not be the last time he texts me something that makes me crazy.
And I miss my mother today.
Labels: kids, lesbian mom, mother-daughter, parenting
posted by Sara at 10:54 AM
3 Comments:
oh, you know very well that will not be the last time you get a sassy text from ben! like they say, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree! LOL
oh, god, don't I know it...
"I will never paint a false picture of her but I'm no longer limited to the color red."
What powerful words of healing.
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