She Get It From Her Momma

I always keep a bottle of ammonia in the house even though I rarely, if ever, use it. I also have steel wool and Pine Sol in my cleaning supply cabinet. I wear gloves when I wash dishes and I sometimes speak in cliches that frankly, explain situations perfectly. Every now and then I cook a pot of beans and I always make my cornbread from scratch. When I think about it, I realize that I do all of these things because my mother did them.

As kids, we often spend our time thinking about how ridiculous our parents are and how we will do it all differently as soon as we get out of the house. We won't fold our clothes in that way, we won't put all of those silly restrictions on our children, and we'll never wear a jacket when going out into the cold air freshly showered. We won't do any of those things because we are way smarter and more evolved than our silly parents. Though I thought this way as a child, adulthood and personal responsibility changed everything for me.

As an adult, I began to see things from a different point of view. Life suddenly changed when I had to buy my own groceries and pay for my own health care. I started to budget my money. I shopped according to what I cold afford. I partied regularly, but never before my bills were paid and I made every effort to pay them on time. I discovered that beans were not just delicious, but cheap and that they make a great meal in a financial pinch. I learned that Pine Sol is not only a cleaning agent, but that it makes for a wonderful scent in the house. I have to be honest and say, I still don't know what the hell to do with the ammonia.

In my maturation, I've learned that while I still do some things differently from my mother, she was far more wise than I was able to give her credit for as a child. I often say the things she said, buy the things she bought, and subscribe to the same theories. And, I don't only do them for the sake of being like her. I do them because it turns out that they really are the very best things for me. All the time I spent planning on how to be different is now the time I spend asking her questions about what to do so that I can find more ways to be like her. It turns out that hindsight is not the only thing that is 20/20, wisdom is as well.