I am a pre-menopausal mother of five... two teenaged daughters, and three older sons, one of whom just completed his second tour in Iraq. I have literally changed thousands of diapers in my years as a mother and more recently as a grandmother. I dream... nay, I live for the day when the proverbial reversal of roles kick in and my kids have the pleasure of changing my diapers.
Dinosaurs, caveman-ladies and blubber
I never really felt ‘old’ until the day , 13 years ago, when my then 5 year old daughter asked me:
“Mommy, were there dinosaurs when you were little?”
“Oh yes”, I replied with exaggeration… “We used to watch the T-Rex chase the triceratops around the field outside our cave!”
“You lived in a cave?” (When will I learn that sarcasm is wasted on children?)
“Of course, how else could we survive the ice age?”
“Was it cold?”
“Not after the volcano erupted and melted the ice”
“Nuh uh… you’re lying!”
“Oh yeah, and how do you know I’m lying?”
“Cos the ice age put the volcanoes out… so the volcanoes didn’t melt the ice age. Is that why you have blubber, to keep warm? Jack Crust-toe says that whales and walruses have blubber to keep them warm. Are you an Eskimo caveman-lady?”
Between the blubber, Jack Crust-toe (Jacques Cousteau) and the caveman-lady I was having a heck of a hard time keeping a straight face and finally confessed that I was not around when the dinosaurs roamed the earth, but I packed a healthy layer of blubber just incase the ice age came back and I’d have to become a caveman-lady until the volcanoes could melt the ice again.
Becca is going to be 18 in a few months. She knows more about dinosaurs, volcanoes and the ice age than I ever will. Sometimes I watch her and my other kids and wonder what kind of children they will have… and what kind of parents they will be for them. I hope they are blessed with wonderful children like the ones I have. I hope that even if I haven’t been the greatest role model as far as housekeeping and intellect goes that they take my laughter with them and share it with their own children.
And I hope that one day Becca has a little girl who will ask her about dinosaurs, caveman-ladies and blubber!
