Mother knows best?
“Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” 1 Peter 5:9
Can I Laugh Now? *Helping you see the humor in life’s sometimes embarrassing, unfortunate circumstances.
Better Late than Never
A professional procrastinator, I found myself saying “better late than never” almost every day. That was until I heard someone say “better never late.” Dang, she was right.
A couple of weeks ago, my mom and I were sitting on the couch watching Teen Mom 2. (Don’t judge me.) At that point in the show, Leah was having a heart-to-heart with her mother. My mom looks at me and asks, “How come you never talk to me like that?” Uhhhhh…I’m speechless. I’m 26 and I can count the number of heart-to-hearts my mother and I have had on one hand. Why all of a sudden the desire to start now? So I’m honest with her. I tell her that that is not the type of relationship we have (I’m sure being a notorious Daddy’s Girl, preferring the company of her ex-husband over her, doesn’t help either).
There was once a time when I preferred my mother’s company above others’. I remember as a pre-teen coming to her to discuss sex; the topic was immediately dismissed and I was sent away. After that I no longer viewed my mother as someone to talk to (now granted, most parents mishandle the sex talk, but unfortunately I took it to heart). From that point on I turned to friends and my aunt when I needed advice, solace, or just a trusting ear. I remember walking home from middle school and listening to my girlfriends go on and on about the awesome relationships they had with their mothers and somewhat wanting that for myself but I accepted that that just wasn’t the relationship we had. And high school only strained our relationship further. It seemed that we argued more and more each day. So eventually I gave up all together. I conceded that our relationship would remain superficial at best. (To her defense she was going through a nasty divorce. But at my age I was unable to empathize.)
So fast forward to today. I am thrilled to say that my mother is far from the bitter, depressed woman she used to be, and she is actually making an effort to reach out to me. So what do I do? I mean I am grown now. I feel those heart-to-heart talks were for my teen years. Well…this is Love-a-lution month at church. So I guess it’s time for me to practice what I preach. She is my mother after all. I should be happy that she wants to rekindle a relationship. She could have easily given up like I did. I’m not saying that it is going to be easy, but it’s worth a shot. I owe her that much at least. Yeah, we’re trying this late as hell. But better late than never. In this case at least.
So I need some good bonding activities. What’s your favorite activity to do with family? Help me out. I’m new at this. I’ll let you know how it goes. 🙂
Until Next Time,
-Belle
Kitta Garner 