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Was your Mom mean?  We had the meanest mother in the whole world! While other kids ate candy for breakfast, we had to have cereal, eggs, and toast. When others had a Pepsi and a Twinkie for lunch, we had to eat sandwiches. And you can guess our mother fixed us a dinner that was different from what other kids had, too. Mother insisted on knowing where we were at all times. You'd think we were convicts in a prison.

She had to know who our friends were, and what we were doing with them. She insisted that if we said we would be gone for an hour, we would be gone for an hour or less. We were ashamed to admit it, but she had the nerve to break the Child Labor Laws by making us work. We had to wash the dishes, make the beds, learn to cook, vacuum the floor, do laundry, empty the trash and all sorts of cruel jobs. I think she would lie awake at night thinking of more things for us to do.

She always insisted on us telling the truth the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. By the time we were teenagers, she could read our minds. Then, life was really tough! Mother wouldn't let our friends just honk the horn when they drove up. They had to come up to the door so she could meet them. While everyone else could date when they were 12 or 13 we had to wait until we were 16.

Because of our mother we missed out on lots of things other kids experienced. None of us have ever been caught shoplifting, vandalizing other's property, or ever arrested for any crime. It was all her fault.


Now that we have left home, we are all educated, honest adults. We are doing our best to be mean parents just like Mom was. I think that is what's wrong with the world today. It just doesn't have enough mean moms.





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Erma Bombeck on A Mother's Love


We all know that being a Mom is the hardest, most rewarding job on the face of this Earth.

"You don't love me!"

How many times have your kids laid that one on you?

And how many times have you, as a parent, resisted the urge to tell them how much?

Someday, when my children are old enough to understand the logic that motivates a mother, I'll tell them...

  • I loved you enough to bug you about where you were going, with whom and what time you would get home.
  • I loved you enough to insist you buy a bike with your own money, which we could afford, and you couldn't.
  • I loved you enough to be silent and let you discover your hand picked friend was a creep.
  • I loved you enough to stand over you for two hours while you cleaned your bedroom, a job that would have taken me 15 minutes.
  • I loved you enough to say, "Yes, you can go to Disney World on Mother's Day."
  • I loved you enough to let you see anger, disappointment, disgust, and tears in my eyes.
  • I loved you enough not to make excuses for your lack of respect or your bad manners.
  • I loved you enough to admit that I was wrong and ask for your forgiveness.
  • I loved you enough to ignore "what every other mother" did or said.
  • I loved you enough to let you stumble, fall, hurt, and fail.
  • I loved you enough to let you assume the responsibility for your own actions, at 6, 10, or 16.
  • I loved you enough to figure you would lie about the party being chaperoned, but forgave you for it...after discovering I was right.
  • I loved you enough to shove you off my lap, let go of your hand, be mute to your pleas and insensitive to your demands...so that you had to stand alone.
  • I loved you enough to accept you for what you are, and not what I wanted you to be.
  • But most of all, I loved you enough to say no when you hated me for it. That was the hardest part of all

Thanks for stopping in for a cup of coffee.

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TRIPLES with EMMA






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