Friday, June 26, 2009

A BEAUTIFUL ESSAY ON GREATNESS

Two cool cats.

Sometimes when Em and i are chatting, i will idly ask her what i should post about. She always answers, "You should do a post about how awesome i am." I tell her that i do that all the time.

Yesterday i was hanging with Em, and i told her that today was the three year anniversary of my blog. She immediately piped up with "You should let me do a post about how awesome you are."

So i did. Behold;

WHY MY MOM IS GREAT
by Em McMenodaughter, age 18

So on this illustrious day I thought that, to make up for all her posts about how spectacularly great I am (all 100% true), I'd make a post about how spectacularly great my mom is for you all.

I think it was during the summer when I did almost nothing but surf channels looking for Roseanne reruns that I heard that the basic mission of a parent is to, if nothing else, make their kids' lives better than their own. If you do that, you succeed, because in theory it means continued progress. If we're using this as a measurement for whether or not a parent is successful, my mom is a rock star. She is the Michael Jordan of moms. Because I can honestly say that my life is great and that, the majority of the time, I'm a pretty happy person.

My mom is basically my best friend. As she can attest, she's the first person I text, call, or instant-message to tell if anything exciting or even remotely interesting happens to me. Even while I was in Ohio most of the time over the last eight months or so, I contacted her probably at least once a day. If I have a problem, I'll go to her, and even if she can't come up with a solution-- which she usually can-- she can make me feel better about it. Hell, she's been willing to mother me over instant message while I've been sick and at school and she's been back in Washington. I know I can talk to her about basically anything and she'll tell me if I'm being an idiot or if I'm totally justified in plotting to kill whoever has most dreadfully wronged me recently. She is also a very talented giver of hugs-- perhaps a function of being tall-- and excellent at back and foot massages.

A lot of women, or so I hear, dread accidentally turning into their mothers when they grow old, but I'd be happy to have someone tell me that I was turning into my mom. What's so bad about being funny and smart and slightly insane (and it'd be nice to be tall like her, too, but I'm guessing that's not gonna happen)? I don't know if we look all that alike, but some people seem to think we do, and I think that's awesome. I can't imagine how I would have turned out without her and I don't want to, but I'm pretty sure I'm a better person than I might have been with a lot of other possible moms.

I feel like I don't tell her how lucky I am to have her enough, especially given how good she is at reminding me how loved I am, so hopefully this post will suffice for a while. Dear Mommy: You are great and I love you. Thanks for not leaving me to freeze to death on a hillside after I was born, even though I was an ugly baby with blue limbs and no hair.

Love, Em.


P.S. (She told me not to make this too embarrassing, so as a less flattering postscript: her taste buds are broken. For years I thought salad was disgusting because of the way she made it, but no! Salad is perfectly acceptable! My mom just doesn't taste things properly or wanted to sabotage my health or something.)

33 comments:

Cheesy said...

meno? You are blessed...
em? SO are you!

[finally someone with more freckles than me! I dub thee the goddess of the ginger heads!]

Anonymous said...

There's nothing better in the whole world than knowing that you've raised a great kid....and having that kid know that you're great too is just the icing on the cake. Loved this...so glad you shared!

Mels Place in Big Bear said...

OMG she loves you! And you are so beautiful! you look like a very young Sissy Spacek in that photo. (I hope you find Spacek attractive. I do, very much! A classic beauty! cornfed! Okay, forget that last part! YOU DO ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

xoxoxoxo Andrea

flutter said...

McMenodaughter....I love it.

nick said...

That's really sweet, how very lucky you are to have such a great mum. Wish I'd had a mum like that when I was little!

Cat Feeder said...

You are as cool as I suspected, but I am a little disheartened about that taste bud thing.

Anonymous said...

Dear Em,

I could tell your mom was great three years ago when i first started reading her. I thought she was such a terrific mom, I asked her to adopt me, and she accepted immediately. But no, I haven't been your big sister for three years without introducing myself - we decided it would be better to be - what's that word for blog-friends? I'm hopelessly uncool - because I already have a mom & kids of my own. I'm pretty sure Meno does not want to be a Grammy just yet.

Even though she's not my mom, I have learned a lot from her, too. I'm pretty glad she is not the Michael Jackson of moms.

Happy third blogoversary. It's the "leather" anniversary. Hmm.

ETK said...

Aww, that is beautiful, you are both so very lucky to have each other. I loved the part about being an excellent giver of hugs. That's so awesome.

meno said...

cheesy, we are blessed! I do have a lot of freckles, but alas, i am not lucky enough to have red hair.

rebel and saint, yeah, we both have great kids. What else really matters?

andrea, thanks! I think Sissy is beautiful, so that is a compliment.

flutter, that made me laugh too.

nick, i wish you did too, and i wish i had too.

cat feeder, she's wrong about that, as SOME PEOPLE really like my salads.

de, if you are hopelessly uncool you fit right in to this family. Leather? Hmmmmmmm.

etk, the giving of hugs is a most important skill. I practice very day.

Mrs. Chili said...

My dearest wish is that my daughter (currently 12 and a skilled hater of EVERYTHING) will feel this way about me in a few years....

Robin said...

okay, that is just awesome. i think the apple didn't fall far from the meno tree!

Anonymous said...

Meno, there's the proof right there: you done good. What an excellent essay.

Cagey (Kelli Oliver George) said...

Not bad! And you can always learn how to make salad elsewhere. :-)

Steph said...

That was sooooo lovely! It would be a dream come true for me if my son and daughter feel that way about me when they are older. That's what I'm striving for, anyway.

Beautiful stuff. Happy 3rd blogaversary!

Scott from Oregon said...

Do you guys ever fight over who is the greatest?

"You are!"

"No! You are!"

"Stop pulling my hair!"

heartinsanfrancisco said...

I just adore this post, Em! You are truly as marvelous as your mom says you are, and she is quite amazing and special, too, although I am deeply sorry about her taste buds and her propensity to sabotage your health.

Cheesy said...

The freckles make you "honorary"

Dick said...

I think you are both lucky to have each other. That was a very nice blog post to read. Today is the 35th birthday of my younger son and the older one got out of Afghanistan three weeks ago today, so I am feeling pretty blessed, too. Now my youngest is the same age as me since I no longer have birthdays but am staying at age 35. Now I just celebrate annual anniversaries of that 35th birthday.

The Real Mother Hen said...

Now I'm dying to taste your salad Meno!!! :)

meno said...

mrs. chili, 12 is a hard age. So is 13. Courage.

robin, the meno tree! I like that.

gordo, i think so too. She has a way with words.

cagey, HEY! I MAKE GREAT SALAD!

steph, i have no idea how i got so lucky. And thank you!

scott, we fight all the time, well, frequently. But no hair pulling or scratching.

hearts, i try and poison her with vegetables too. So sue me.

cheesy, oh good! I always wanted to be a red head.

dick, i'm so glad your son is safe. You are lucky too.

mother hen, she doesn't like vinegar, that's her problem.

Bob said...

This comes as no surprise to me, em, I've always thought your mom was pretty special too.

happy blogiversary, meno.

Girlplustwo said...

oh meno, i think we started reading each others blogs at the beginning, i remember when Em was still a girl and now she's this fabulous woman.

much love to you

peevish said...

I can only hope I manage to mold even one of my daughters into such a wonderful, loving person as your Em.

fiwa said...

I love it. That ranks up there with one of the best posts I have ever read. Now 'scuse me, I need to go sniffle in the corner.

love,
fiwa

meno said...

bob, thanks! That's sweet of you to say.

jen, i know, we sorta grew up together. Your baby will be here sooner than you know.

peevish, i am sure that both of them will (and are) wonderful people. Just you wait!

fiwa, even though it's blatantly self serving, i love it too.

QT said...

This was great, but the bestest part is that photo!!!

The salad part is hysterical.

The Topiary Cow said...

Agree with QT...photo evokes so many good memories!

Thanks for the wonderful essay.

Moo!

Gina said...

That's awesome. I hope my children feel that way about me.

Clowncar said...

what they said. wonderful essay. wonderful photo.

you must be proud.

Dianne said...

the photo is out of a really good movie about really great women

the essay is awesome! well done Em!

Mrs4444 said...

Happy Blogiversary!! That is just about the sweetest thing ever--I am so happy that the two of you are blessed enough to know and love each other. It doesn't surprise me that you are an awesome mom.

P.S. Oooohhh...Washington? I LOVE Washington. Meno, can I come and stay with you if I ever get back out there???!! (Assuming we're talking Washington State.)

sari said...

I love this. I hope my kids love me this much!

egan said...

I have to come back and read this when it's not so late. What a fabulous idea.