Some thoughts on parents
Why is it that your own mother can get under your skin in the blink of an eye – far faster than anyone else on the face of the planet? My mother can get me from relaxed and calm to irritated and pissed off in a timeframe that would make the 0-60 acceleration rate of a Ferrari seem like an eternity. It seems to be a universal power moms have with their kids.
Sometimes I think it’s rooted in the questions they ask – you know, the ones that that always prompt responses from us like, “Yes, Mom, it is safe to assume that because you haven’t seen Sally in two-and-a-half years and she no longer sends you fudge on Christmas that we’ve broken up.”
Ever have your mom ask you about what her favorite ex of yours is up to? They usually use that opportunity to remind you how much “I sure liked” her/him. And do they do that lovely thing where everyone you ever date is permanently compared to the first girl/boyfriend you introduced your parents to? It’s like the first person you brought home for dinner (usually in middle or high school, when our judgment on what we’re looking for in a relationship is oh so well developed) is the benchmark standard for everyone else we’ll ever date.
My sister has it far worse off than I do, but that’s her own fault. She introduced them to a guy they loved, who was everything in a boy that parents of a teenage girl want. He was smart, responsible, studied hard, lived on the Upper East Side and had parents my parents knew and liked…. The complete opposite of what any girl now in college is interested in.
I went the opposite route and set the standards real low – I never knew it would payoff in dividends. I introduced my parents to a girl who was very developed physically, but not mentally, liked to wear revealing clothing, aspired to a future in retail and had one of those names that ended in an “i” which she dotted with a heart (come to think about it, I don’t remember my dad ever saying a bad thing about her). Every girl I’ve introduced them to subsequently has been heralded by my mother as the most “charming, sweet, lovely, fantastic” girl they’ve ever met. Somehow, I think my dad still misses Brandi…
Sometimes I think it’s rooted in the questions they ask – you know, the ones that that always prompt responses from us like, “Yes, Mom, it is safe to assume that because you haven’t seen Sally in two-and-a-half years and she no longer sends you fudge on Christmas that we’ve broken up.”
Ever have your mom ask you about what her favorite ex of yours is up to? They usually use that opportunity to remind you how much “I sure liked” her/him. And do they do that lovely thing where everyone you ever date is permanently compared to the first girl/boyfriend you introduced your parents to? It’s like the first person you brought home for dinner (usually in middle or high school, when our judgment on what we’re looking for in a relationship is oh so well developed) is the benchmark standard for everyone else we’ll ever date.
My sister has it far worse off than I do, but that’s her own fault. She introduced them to a guy they loved, who was everything in a boy that parents of a teenage girl want. He was smart, responsible, studied hard, lived on the Upper East Side and had parents my parents knew and liked…. The complete opposite of what any girl now in college is interested in.
I went the opposite route and set the standards real low – I never knew it would payoff in dividends. I introduced my parents to a girl who was very developed physically, but not mentally, liked to wear revealing clothing, aspired to a future in retail and had one of those names that ended in an “i” which she dotted with a heart (come to think about it, I don’t remember my dad ever saying a bad thing about her). Every girl I’ve introduced them to subsequently has been heralded by my mother as the most “charming, sweet, lovely, fantastic” girl they’ve ever met. Somehow, I think my dad still misses Brandi…
posted by Kevin at
8:06 AM
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