I know the commandments say to “honor they mother and father”, but in some cases that is rather difficult. I know my mother means well, but she has an annoying my-way-or-the-highway way about her that rubs me wrong. I guess she did well raising me. I have a fairly good work ethic, I don’t lie or cheat, or steal, or any of that other stuff, and I appreciate education and art. For those things I am grateful for her teachings and her guidance. But her manner, especially as she ages, is quite another matter.
Last night, I saw an old episode of Law and Order which had a character that so typified my mother I thought it was she they wrote the part about. The actress played the part of a grandmother who was so driven to do things right that she drove her daughter-in-law to commit murder to get the grandchild into an exclusive pre-school. The grandmother was nasty, downright nasty, and haughty when she spoke to the police complaining that her son married down and that her daughter-in-law tricked him into marrying her. The mannerism of the actress was my mother down to a T. I wish I could have taken a snippet of the episode and sent it to her so that she could see what others see about her.
They say you become your parents, especially when you are a parent. I certainly hope that I don’t get to be that way, although at times I hear my mother coming out of me when I speak to my son, and it scares me. I don’t want to become that way. I don’t want to have those around me fear to anger me or go away thinking that I am a world class bitch. I want to age gracefully and be thought of as a person with kindness and humility. I suppose that it will take work and it is so worth it.
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