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| Dad, Jerry and Chris About 3 BD (Before Diane) But 5 minutes AC (After Coats) |
Our kids and grandkids were over for the weekend.
Fortunately for us, spring has finally arrived in Edmonton, Alberta, and they were able to spend much of the day outside.
One grandson, anxious to rejoin his cousins on the pirate ship in the backyard (yes, we have a pirate ship in the backyard) was frantically looking for his coat--discarded when he had come inside.
Moments before.
“Can’t find it!” he lamented loudly.
“Well, Sweetie,” I said. “I don’t know . . .” That was as far as I got.
Because, suddenly, I was remembering my Mom.
And something she said to us every time we were bewailing the loss of some article of clothing.
Which happened often.
Ahem . . .
There would the usual scurry to find said article of clothing.
Coat.
Hat.
Boots.
Shoes.
Pants.
And then the inevitable words, “I CAN’T FIND IT!!!”
Followed, if one were really good, by tears. (I was really good. Just FYI.)
Back to my story . . .
Mom would immediately bring the problem into ‘Mom’ focus with the words: “Well, I don’t know where I put it when I wore it last!”
We would frown because adult-sized Mom would never, ever have fit into it.
And this was NOT helpful!
Then she would laugh.
Whereupon (good word!) we would sigh and slump and renew our search.
So, back to my grandson. The three-year-old standing indignantly in the middle of the kitchen.
I smiled. “Well, Sweetie, I don’t know where I put it when I wore it last!”
He frowned at me.
I heard laughter from the periphery. And “I remember Mom saying that to me!”
Good family sayings traverse generations.
My parents said 'look with your eyes, not with your mouth'. A phrase I may have employed once or twice...
ReplyDeleteI remember all too well! Used it all the time with my kids.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Chris
My mother would say, "You know what thought did", whenever we prefaced a (probably inaccurate) statement with "I thought ...". I never considered what she was actually saying (because no, I don't know what thought did!); it was the tone that told us we didn't have a leg to stand on :)
ReplyDelete"Do you know what Thought did?" I was asked that a time or two when I started a whine with "Well I thought I left it . . . ". One day someone answered 'do you know what Thought did?' The answer was "He planted a feather and thought he could grow a chicken." A not-so-subtle way of saying what my grandfather occasionally would answer: "Use the brains the good Lord gave you . . . "
ReplyDeleteI Thought I Am Diane's Anonymous Husby-Figure