I was taught by my
Mother at a very young age to become very self sufficient. I remember the times when I was barely two
feet tall and she said “Danielle, there are dishes in the sink – do you think
they are going to wash themselves?” I
stood there perplexed, but replied “I can’t reach the sink.” Thinking to myself ‘hah, beat that one
Kathleen,’ however she kindly replied “drag one of the kitchen chairs over to
the sink, take your sneakers off, stand on the chair and you will be able to
reach the sink.”
I was not amused
with her response, but stood on the chair washing dishes as she monitored from
the corner of her eye and stating “dish soap doesn’t grow on trees, use less
soap.”
Pft, as I used more
dish soap than necessary just to spite her.
--
Dishes were done
and I went to watch cartoons on the couch.
Finally some relaxing time as I lay on the couch flipping through
cartoons I heard a voice! “Danielle the
hamper looks full to me; clothes don’t wash themselves you know.”
I screamed back, “I
can’t reach the washer to put the clothes in.”
That ought to shut
her up I thought to myself.
All of a sudden she
spoke “you know the chair you stood on to do the dishes? It will work for the washer so gather the
clothes, drag the chair over and get started – oh and don’t use too much
laundry detergent!”
I did as was told,
but used a little extra laundry detergent :->
--
While much of my
discipline involved countless “Cinderella” tasks while growing up, it taught me
the ropes so I would know how to function as a teenager/adult to be self sufficient. However, Kathleen did spoil my Brother and I
with tasks that we were fully capable of doing ourselves, however why would we
when Mommy was always there?
The picture below
hit home for me as I related to each and every one of them.
Mom can you tie my shoe? At 22 years old I was walking the wildwood’s
boardwalk with My Mother and she said to me “Your shoe is untied.” I looked down and indeed she was correct so I
said “can you tie it?” She looked at me
like no so I said, “No one ties shoes like you do.” Sure enough she said “put your foot on the
bench, I am not bending down for this shit” and she tied my shoe.
Mom I am done with my banana, can you take it? After running the Disney marathon, I gulped
down two banana’s while standing next to a trashcan with my Mother and when I
was done I handed her the banana peels and said “Here, I am all done.” She replied, “Okay the trash can is right
next to you.” I said, “I just ran a
marathon and you want me to exert my tired arms?” She took my banana peels and tossed them into
the trash can right next to me.
Mom can you come cover me with my blankie, I can’t
reach it. When I was 5 years
old I went to bed, but awoke to find my blankie had inched its way to the foot
of my bed so I screamed out “Mom Mom Mom!”
She busted into my room in a panic and said “What’s wrong, are you okay?” I replied, “Yes, but my blankie made its way
to the end of my bed and I can't reach it, can you hand it to me? I can’t fall back asleep without it.” She snatched my blankie and threw at my face
and said, “go to sleep, good night – love you.”
Can I have a bite of yours? Often times my Mother and I would go out to
eat and we would order the exact same things.
When our food came I took a bite of mine and then said to her, “can I
taste yours?” She would reply “you have
the exact same thing.” As I reached over
to her plate with my fork I replied, “I know, but yours might taste better and
if so we can switch.”
Mom can you carry me?
Many
memories of this as Mom and I walked from North Wildwood to the crest and
back. I was very young and short and my legs became tired
easily so I would always stop and scream “CARRY ME” and stood there until she
did.
Such great memories
and the final picture was the last one we had ever taken, we were making silly mirror
faces taking pictures testing her new iPad camera!
