Mama Mia

Nearly every mother has had that moment when she opens her mouth and sounds just like her mother. Think it won’t happen to you?  Think again. I recently read a fun survey at www.TheBabyWebsite.com that asked 3,000 moms what phrases are most likely to be passed down from one generation to another. The top sayings included: “because I said so,” closely followed by, “wait and see,” and, “if you were asked to jump off a cliff would you?”

It has taken me 40 years, but I get it. I understand why my mother bought Schweppes and saltine crackers at the first sign of a flu bug. I get why she took off work to help chaperone 20 boisterous first-graders on a trip to a pumpkin farm. I know why my mother would worry because I worried and was happy because I was happy.

Each morning, I brush and style my daughter’s hair. She squirms, glares at me and says, ”You are a mean mommy!”  And so the day begins. Some day she will understand that our morning ritual reassures me that the world sees her as a child who is loved and valued.  As she scowls at me, I can hear my mother, “If you keep sticking your lower lip out like that a little birdie will come and land on it.”

My daughter wakes up at 5 a.m. on a Saturday morning and calls for me. I drag myself to her doorway. “Yes, honey?” I say groggy and cold. “Mama, I don’t feel good.” I climb into bed beside her and put my hand on her forehead and say, ”My poor baby. Where’s it hurt?” My mother’s words, out of my mouth.

So it happens that sometimes I am my mother and my daughter is me.  Watching my daughter play outside after a rainstorm, I think to myself, “Don’t jump in that puddle, ” fling open the back door and yell, ”Zip up your jacket. You’ll get a chill!”