May 6, 2022 — With Mother’s Day being Sunday, this Little Reminders magnet reminds me of something my ever-stylish mom would say. To this day, I can’t get behind the wheel of a car without telling myself what Mom told me at 16: “Watch out for the other guy!” Raising an undeniable type-A, she’d try hard to get through to me, “You don’t have to do it all today.” And I doubt I’ll ever be able to walk into a messy room at home without hearing my mom’s voice in me say, “You know, when you don’t throw it down, you don’t have to pick it up.” 😬
Having lived in Miami for 25 years now, I’ve learned that Latin mothers have adages in abundance. The Best! I never even met our CEO Ana’s late mother in Venezuela, yet with every big business decision Ana and I face, Ana will invoke her comforting, “Just because you open a door doesn’t mean you have to walk through it.” One day my friend Amparo asked how a new staff member was working out. Feeling cautiously optimistic, I’d answered, “So far, so good!” Amparo chuckled and said, “Well, as my mother in Colombia used to say, ‘Every new broom sweeps well!’”
What Mom Messages have stuck with you? And what do you suppose you are out there imprinting on hearts and minds today? In homage to mom wisdom going into this weekend, we invite you to follow the link and share a momism or two with your fellow cardies. “No pressure, just pleasure,” as we like to say around Cardthartic. And quoting Mom once more, “Enjoy today!”
Jodee Stevens
Founder & Chief Creative
All shall be well and all shall be well and all matter of thing shall be well.
Julian of Norwich
My mom always told us that when we got up “that we should be ready to greet the day”. That meant that you needed to get dressed and put on at the least~ minimal makeup ~ and~ for my mom ~ a necklace or a scarf! Even in her late 90’s my mom did this ~ even if it meant going back to bed for a nap at 10:00 am. 😊. To this day, unless I am really ill~ I follow this suggestion. Who knows who will come knocking at your door???
As a child I can remember saying, “I’m bored!” to which my Mom would laugh and say, “Use your imagination!” Write a story…make a playhouse in the woods…paint something! Of course I grew up in the 50’s, when kids were turned loose after breakfast and only came back home to eat lunch and dinner. And to think I took that safe, carefree, happy life totally for granted!
My mom was a woman of few words but on occasion she’d like to share this mouthful-
“If, ifs and ands were pots and pans, there’d be no work for tinkers”.
When I became a mom, I found myself sharing these words of wisdom.
My daughter and son were probably the only kids in school who knew what a “tinker” did!
I bet they pass this on to their children.
Thanks Mom
My parents met in WW2 (Mom was a WAC and Dad had been wounded). They admired Winston Churchill and Mom liked to use his “If you are going through hell, keep going” quote.
She also felt that a well-made bed helped you straighten your hazy, dream-filled mind before you faced the day. “After a busy day, your bed will welcome you back and you will sleep better.” I never made a bed as tight as my Mom could! I miss sheets that hung out to dry and smelled like the wind.
The last thing said as we left for school or work was: “Do your best!” It warms my heart to hear my grown sons saying that too.
My Mother loved these words from a verse in a Doris Day song:
Que sera, sera
Whatever will be, will be
The future’s not ours to see
Que sera, sera
What will be, will be
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO ALL!
Nothing is a waste if it creates a memory
Happy Mother’s Day
When faced with a big project, overwhelming task, or even something undesirable that needed be done, my dear sweet Momma Mia would say, “One French window at a time!!” and got to work!! This meant do whatever needs to be done in small manageable amounts and eventually it will be completed. Of course, my children often heard me quote their grandma’s encouraging words through the years. I now live with my daughter and her husband. She and I often look at each other with a knowing smile of remembrance as we survey the task at hand and automatically repeat, “One French window at a time!!”
As Jodee mentioned, we have a lot of sayings in the Spanish language, and my mom was THE Queen of sayings in my family. One she said almost every day was, “con tan buena voz y mandando a cantar!” It translate to, with such a good voice and asking others to sing and she used it any time we ask others (or her) to do things for us: make me a sandwich, iron my shirt. She meant to say that we should do for ourselves, those things that we know how to ourselves. I don’t remember saying this to my girls, but then again, they knew better than to say, make me a sandwich 😉
My mom Luda is the best mom in the world ! And I miss her so much since we live in different countries.. when I were a independent teen mom used to say : u will always be my child , even when u are 100 yo! Now I tell same to my son)