Sunday, March 6, 2011

Do as I say, not as I do

Do you have a 'mini-me'?
A child in whom you see a reflection of yourself?


I see something of myself in both of my girls but Daughter2 is what I often call my mini-me. For one thing, she looks just like I did at that age. People who knew me at 20 say it too and if I run into someone I haven't seen in a long time and they meet my daughter2 they are astonished at the similarity to my younger self. Sometimes when I'm complaining about some effect aging has had on me I freak her out by saying, 'This is going to be you, ya know.'

She laughs.

Kind of.

Oh there is plenty of me in my first born too but I think some of the strongest parts of my personality run equally as strong in my second born.

This is going somewhere, I promise.

I spent most of last week with my mom.
My mom lives in the same house in the same town I grew up in and I'm more than 30 years old.
Okay, more than 40 but whatever.
I've been driving a long time and when I'm at my mom's I do the driving around town and she likes to tell me how.
For some reason this really gets under my skin.

I might be just a teensy bit stubborn.
Ahem.

Anyway, my mom and I are really good until we're in the car.
She's a nervous passenger and she doesn't like to drive on the highways.
She prefers taking a bajillion back roads thru neighborhoods and such to get where she's going which is fine, if she's the one driving.
I prefer taking the highway or the route with the fewest turns so discussion always ensues.
Since we have no set timetable for reaching our destination and since I'm the one driving I don't understand why she cares which route I take.
She doesn't understand why I insist on driving on roads where there is traffic.

Back in January Daughter2 and I spent a couple of days at my moms and the three of us were in the car going somewhere.
My mom and I were having our usual back and forth about my driving and I whispered to Daughter2 that I didn't understand why my mom cared what road I took.
Sweet, smart Daughter2 whispered back-
"You know mom...sometimes you just need to do what your mom says."
Then she added-

"That's what you tell us."

Ker-pow!!

Oh don't you dislike it a lot when your children throw your very own words right back at you?

Last week as my mom and I were having our usual, 'You know this lane ends don't you?" "You know this road is only 25 mph don't you?" "You don't want to get on that road, they're working on it" nonsense, I flashed forward thirty years.

I thought, 'This is going to be me'.

I am so my own mother.

And Daughter2?
Well she'll be me.
Because she is.

Oh boy.

Why can't I take the bajillion back roads and go the long way round sometimes just to make my 80 year old mother happy?
Why am I so stubborn?
Pay attention Daughter2...don't be like me when I'm my mother!


Because I think we both know I'm pretty much already there.

19 comments:

  1. Great pictures! I can identify with you on this one. Oh, how I wish Princess were not as much like me as she is...and here I am lke my mother...a thought that I would have cringed at ten years ago.

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  2. That's ok - I'm sure your mother has lots and lots of wonderful traits that you have also picked up.

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  3. Hehe! I'd like you guys to keep that trait between the three of you,b ut we all remember the summer I learned to drive...

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  4. Too funny! I think daughter 2 does look like you wow.....! My daughter is in driver ed and suddenly she is telling me how to drive....pay back is a bitch I know some day her teen will do the same! Have a wonderful Sunday!

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  5. I can so relate!!! My Mother is the same way with me. That is so funny. Must be the generation! She always tells me where to go, where to turn, etc. Great post! Hope you had fun at your Mom's. I know our girls will have fun on their spring breaks this week. Praying for travel mercies for them both. Love & blessings from NC!

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  6. I can so relate to this...especially since last April when we moved in with my mom after my dad passed. My mom, my 15 yr old daughter and I are all "Onlies" and very much alike...it's kind of scary! My poor husband, now has to live with the 3 of us!

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  7. Oh my goodness! I am your mother! Just yesterday Hubby sent me this joke.

    "A wife was making a breakfast of fried eggs for her husband. Suddenly, her husband burst into the kitchen. 'Careful,' he said, 'CAREFUL! Put in some more butter! Oh my gosh! You're cooking too many at once. TOO MANY! Turn them! TURN THEM NOW! We need more butter. Oh my gosh! WHERE are we going to get MORE BUTTER? They're going to STICK! Careful. CAREFUL! I said be CAREFUL! You NEVER listen to me when you're cooking! Never! Turn them! Hurry up! Are you CRAZY? Have you LOST your mind? Don't forget to salt them. You know you always forget to salt them. Use the! Salt. USE THE SALT! THE SALT!' The wife stared at him. 'What in the world is wrong with you? You think I don't know how to fry a couple of eggs?' The husband calmly replied, 'I just wanted to show you what it feels like when I'm driving."

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  8. That's a great picture of you & your mom! And you & Daughter2!

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  9. Oh, how funny! This story reminds me of the pillow that says, "I have become my Mother afterall." I have a "mini me" too, but I am just like my Daddy. My Mom use to say that she could hardly take having both my Dad and I in the same room with her. :o) Happy week!

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  10. So true! I see myself doing stuff like my mom all the time. And I certainly look like her (which is a plus because she has aged very well, as has my grandma). Looks like your family is blessed with the same good genes!

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  11. Great pictures! I have a pillow that says...
    Mirror, Mirror on the wall
    I am my mother, after all.

    It's so true. Generation after generation. Which is a blessing of sorts. :)

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  12. Yes, my little Emma not only looks just like me...her personality (the good and the bad) are just like me too! Poor dear. I get frustrated and generally focus only on the bad things...but there are good things...and hopefully we'll share those happily in the future (like you and Daughter2).

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  13. I also see qualities of myself in my children. Some good, and some not so good! I think we all become our mothers to a certain degree.

    Since my mom passed away last year, whenever I see her in myself, it makes me smile. She will never be gone, she is within.

    You and your daughter DO look alike! Very loverly!

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  14. So funny! But so true, for me and my daughter too. They just don´t want to admit it yet.... :)

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  15. No mini-me's in our sons but one is a huge Mini-DH! Oh my, probably why they didn't work together so well. :)

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  16. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy...I think my daughter is turning into me and I hope she's not as ticked about that as I am about turning into mine.

    This whole pattern must be universal and universally annoying!

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  17. this is so sweet... and as a daughter and mother myself, i can also say that it makes me *cringe*. what will my daughters say of me? *sigh* ;)

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  18. What a great story! We do become our parents.

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