Mama Mia

Tomorrow is Mama Mia’s birthday. She’ll be worth a quarter, two dimes, a nickel, and two pennies. She’s done quite a bit with those 52 years but most of her greatest achievements fall under work done during the past 28 years with the title of “Mother”.

The fact is, she is an amazing mom. I might be biased but I do think she's the best around.

In my younger years, those years in which I somehow knew more than Mama Mia ever would, I found so many opportunities to critique. I would have made dinner differently. I would have raised my siblings better. My yard would have looked nicer. I surely would have kept the house tidier. Mama Mia was wiser than I realized though. Instead of arguing back, she would simply say, “Write it down, sign and date it.” I complied.

One example involved our “lived in” home. I was frustrated that our house so often looked unkempt. After another snotty comment, I obliged Mama Mia’s request and wrote, “I will always have a clean house after I have children.” She coyly took the signed paper and stashed it with the other statements previously written.

Several years later, I was babysitting four children, two of which were twins. I was frazzled after just three hours of juggling diaper changes, feedings, books, children, taking phone messages, and cleaning up after little ones. I looked around the cluttered living room and remembered the promise I’d sworn in such haste. On my own, I prepared a disclaimer for Mama Mia explaining, "If I have twins, the note about a clean house no longer holds true.”

I don’t know why I limited the clause to twins. I’ve tended enough children now to realize just one can demand my attention louder than a messy room. Guess Mama Mia has every right to say “I told you so!” She also has a collection of oaths penned by my hand to refer to when the opportune moment arrives.

Today I have another statement. This one needs no retraction: