If you are a creative mom, you have my respect. I am fully aware of my domestic limitations; I can’t mend, craft, cut, sew, or create anything at all. I mean, I try, but everything winds up looking like a 4-year-old got cranked up on sugar and whipped it out during nap-time.
We didn’t have a lot of money growing up, so my mom was one of those, “that’s too expensive; I bet I can make it,” kind of moms. Her heart was in a good place; she didn’t want her kids to do without. But I’m going to be honest; the woman’s skills were as lacking as mine. You don’t know struggle until you’ve gone to school with a haircut inspired by the library book, Cutting Hair the Vidal Sassoon Way. Their slogan was: “If you don’t look good, we don’t look good.” Well, we didn’t look good, Vidal Sassoon. I didn’t have a Cabbage Patch Doll. I had a homemade Lettuce Head Doll, which was sewn out of fabric and gave me nightmares. And don’t get me started on our clothes. If you were from the 80’s, you know JAMS were a big thing. JAMS were surfer shorts that EVERYONE wanted, and I’ll never forget having to pick out the fabric for my mom’s version. My brother and I called them Crappy-Jams (Crams). Fortunately, I was at an age where I could flat out refuse to wear the Crams. My brother, on the other hand, could be found running across any given playground, one fake Crappy-Jam leg longer than the other, and streams of unraveled thread flying freely behind him in the wind. To this day, he swears he was walking through a stream and caught a fish with one the random threads dangling off of his Crams…but I digress.
Truth is, I’m making fun of my mom, but I’m no better. I say non-mom-like words whenever something at the kid’s school requires a small inkling of creative effort. What!? You want me to make a costume? Listen, PTO Polly, can I just throw some money your way and have you make mine when you make yours? I would give up a week’s worth of lunch money just so I don’t have to make or bake anything.
I guess that is my point. All moms have an identical goal – we want what is best for our kids. We just don’t always follow the same path. There is no shame in that. We love our kids just the same, and they will all turn out fine in the end. Then, as time moves on, we can all just settle happily into our respective grandma teams. That would be either Dorothy or Helen. Clearly, I’m a Helen, but that doesn’t prevent me from respecting and celebrating all the Dorothys out there. So, craft your little heart out Dorothy, and have a happy Mother’s Day.
General Musings of a Gen Xer 