My Mini-Me is Better Than Me.
Mothers are irrational. That’s not a sexist statement, it’s the truth. Ask any mother (which is all mothers) who have ever hit a hard stop while driving and have thrown their right arm across the chest of their child in the passenger seat. Yes. This is going to save the child from going through the windshield. Irrational.
In 2017 I took my three adult children to Hawaii. For years we have enjoyed the week between Christmas and New Years Day traveling somewhere together. We call it our Adventure Trip and this particular adventure was going to take us from 17 degree Columbus, Ohio to 80 degree Honolulu. I instructed my kids who were, at that time, age 22, 26, and 27 to leave their heavy coats in the car at the Columbus airport. Once we got on the plane we wouldn’t need them until we got back.
Somewhere over the Pacific we hit extended heavy turbulence. My first thought (this wasn’t even the irrational one) was how was my right arm was going to stretch across three adults to hold them back on sudden impact? The irrational thought (honest to God, it was right there in my frontal lobe) was regret and guilt that I had told them to leave their winter coats in the car. We were going to crash into the Pacific and they wouldn’t have their coats! And it was my fault!
Don’t give me credit that I was forward thinking or smart enough to think we could use our coats as flotation devices. I was just concerned they would be cold. Irrational.
Today this girl turns 29. And I love her. Irrationally. Don’t kid yourselves, young Moms, the love doesn’t check out when they hit 18. In fact, harder than raising kids is letting them go. You have to hold your irrational thoughts in check and let them live their lives. Fix their lives. Mold their own futures. Solve their own challenges. The great joy is seeing them do it successfully. Without your right arm. And without the proverbial coat that you always remembered to bring. (Or not.)
Happy Birthday sweet Lindsay. Some call you my “mini-me”. My wish for you is that you would be my “better-than-me.” And you are well on your way.
