Some things you don't live down - ever

Me, Mom & Dev

I began parenting 27 years ago, and have now raised 3 adult children, and am now raising a very active & curious 5 (almost 5-1/2 ) year old boy. During these 27 years I've seen and heard all kinds of stuff, ranging from the "normal" to the seriously weird. Things like the child who put a pebble up his nose or kissing a minnow for good luck before baiting his fish hook, and mistaking a flattened, frozen squirrel as a piece of wood and declaring it his play sword. Nothing seems to surprise or alarm me and the older I get the more I take these things in stride. I learned years ago the importance of never saying "never" in reference to other kids' behaviors because as soon as you do, yours does something worse... For the most part I just do what any respectable mother does when her child does something less than pleasant, I blame my husband and declare he/she is HIS child!

Well, today my family threw a surprise birthday party for my mom who turned 80 yesterday. It started off as a small affair, just us kids - there are six of us - spouses, & kids. Eventually, MANY relatives were invited. Many I see regularly, some not so much, while others, I haven't seen in a few decades. My youngest brother even travelled up from Oklahoma for the weekend so all six of us kids could be there.

Mom with her sister & brother.

Of course I drilled JR about being on his best behavior before we left the house, and reminded him again before we arrived at the party. The immediate family were the first to get there and then slowly, cousins, aunts & uncles arrived. As I made my way around the room, introducing my family, I can upon a cousin I haven't seen in at least 20 years. JR was polite, shook hands, then made his way to a table to visit his big brother. At that point, I spotted another cousin who I haven't seen for about as many years, and told my family I'd meet up with them a bit (thankfully, because they weren't there to overhear it)

"You look exactly the same" she said to me, as I simultaneously repaid the compliment. "I mean it" she said, "you look EXACTLY the same". Before I could counter she added, "yep, you look just the same as when we were kids and you ate dirt".

"Huh" was all I could muster.

"You remember" she insisted "you used to put dirt in your grape Kool-Aid and then drink it. Your mother used to ask me to keep and eye on you and keep you from doing it"...

Now, how does somebody recover from that? I'll tell you how - they don't...I tried to convince her she was mistaking me for someone else, but she was insistent. She could recall where, when and who else was there. And worse, she recalled details. And I was worried about JR? His mother ate dirt as a child - what could be worse than that claim to fame? Heck, at that point, I would have welcomed his sticking his fingers in the cake - it wouldn't have taken the heat off of me!

Defeated, I was forced to just accept reality - I put dirt in my Kool-Aid as a kid, and liked it.

I returned to my family, now siting at a nearby table, with a new appreciation for all the gross & dumb things they have done, and the realization that some things a person can never, ever live down.

All six of us, with Mom

I'm happy to report however, that eventually I was able to regain what was left of my pride, and enjoy the party - dirt jokes and all...