My Momma. Sweet as a sun ripened summer peach, generous, kind and loving. She is also the queen of guilt. And not just the things that I should be guilty of, like walking past a piece of trash on the ground instead of picking it up, or not volunteering at the homeless shelter. O no. One little comment like, "Whew! My eyes are dry today." is answered with, "Well you SHOULD be glad you can even see. You should be happy you HAVE eyes. Some people don't you know..."
I am not clear on how she got so good at it. Maybe she studied it in school. Guilt 101. If she did, I'm sure she was top of the class. She is so good, that she doesn't even have to be near me for me to feel guilty. I just hear her voice in my head. Like Jiminy cricket. And what is with Jiminy Cricket anyway? I've NEVER seen a cricket that looks like that. May he is not really a cricket at all. Maybe Cricket is just his last name. That does not explain why he is green though...
guilt
Noun
| The fact of having committed a specified or implied offense or crime. |
|
|
Verb
| Make (someone) feel guilty, esp. in order to induce them to do something. |
|
|
Synonyms
fault - blame - sin - crime - guiltiness - culpability
Back to guilt. And Momma. Once I told her I was sick of doing so many dishes. So she said, "You should be glad you have food to eat that gets your dishes dirty." My head hung in shame. Yes! She was right! How dare I get tired of dishes when there are children starving in the world! What kind of monster am I?!
I suppose a little has worn off on me. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree as they say. I will admit to you that the other day I found myself guilting my daughter into washing the dishes after dinner. It went something like this, " Oh you don't WANT to wash the dishes? Well, I wouldn't want to impose on your life of luxury. Especially after all the work I put into cooking your favorite meal for you. No, you go ahead and sit down and relax. I"LL take care of everything. No, no. Don't get up." The important question, did it work? Let's just say that I didn't have dish pan hands that night.
Keepin' it real,
Princess Jodi
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment