Mother’s Day is creeping up on me and I haven’t bought card number one. In addition to cards for my mom, my grandma, my mother–in-law and my godmother, I have to buy cards on Mo and Co’s behalf for their grandmas, godmothers, and great-grandmas. If I have to buy my own Mother’s Day Card. . .well, I’m sure DH has it under control.
So, I read this article in Real Simple magazine the other day entitled 10 Questions to ask your Mom. Simply put, many of us are afraid to ask our mothers very personal questions. I’m not one of those people. Of course, just because I ask, doesn’t mean she tells, but I digress.
The article went on to provide ten questions for the reader to ask their mother, several of which I had never though to ask before, but definitely plan on asking now. Judith Newman, the author of the article, provided the answers from her own mother, which I found intriguing and very candid. The question I most thought I couldn’t answer was question 10 —When did you realize you were no longer a child? It’s easy for me to say that I can’t answer that because I’m forever and ever a great big child. But after reading the author and her mother’s response, I realized their answer will be my answer when the time comes.
Says Judith Newman, “I know what the answer will be for me, and I was startled to hear my mother give the same response: “I knew it when my own mother died,” she told me. “That’s the last time there would be anyone in the world who always put me before herself.”
What I’d really like to do is find some quiet time with my mom (right after I find a cure for cancer and deliver world peace to the masses), pull out a mini recorder and fire away these questions. I’ve already told Mom about the article, I even slipped in a question as an example, which she answered. Ultimately, I want to take the question and answers, some photos, and wrap it up into a very nice coffee table book for her, for me, for the girls.
What really got my wheels turning was how would I answer these same questions if Mo and Co were to ask them of me. Maybe I’ll carve out some of that quiet time and answer them for myself first. Then, when Mo and Co become mothers — many, many, many, married years from now — I’ll give it to them when their first child is born. Man, I hope I remember all of these great ideas.
For now, I’ll leave you with the questions so that you can marinate on them before you start making notes for your own coffee table book.
10 Questions to Ask Your Mother
1. What’s the one thing you would have done differently as a mom?
2. Why did you choose to be with my father?
3. In what ways do you think I’m like you?
4. Which one of us kids did you like the best?
5. Is there anything you have always wanted to tell me but never have?
6. Do you think it’s easier or harder to be a mother now than when you were raising our family?
7. Is there anything you regret not having asked your parents?
8. What’s the best thing I can do for you right now?
9. Is there anything that you wish had been different between us — or that you would still like to change?
10. When did you realize you were no longer a child?
