"True politeness is to say . . . "

Like all mothers, mine had a very deep well of “momisms.” Who knows where they came from? Some were from Ben Franklin. Some from the Bible or Shakespeare. Some were twisted versions of well-known quotes. I’ve posted before about how Mother would begin one of her sayings with “As it says in the Bible . . . “ and head straight into “Neither a borrower nor a lender be” or “To thine own self be true,” never crediting dear old Shakespeare’s Polonius in Hamlet.

I’m sure Kate - who is now 18 years older than in this picture, yet I am exactly the same age! - could list a string of my momisms. I’m not really aware of anything I say all the time except for “Pee or get off the pot.” (See how I cleaned that one up before foisting it upon a small child?) Evidently mine don't come from lofty places like the Bible or Shakespeare, unless you consider American musical theatre rarified. At any rate, momisms do seem to spew forth once one has given birth. Maybe it’s something in the delivery process.

So on this Mother’s Day, let’s celebrate our momism-generators and their pearls o’ wisdom (if you can consider “Pee or get off the pot” wisdom). As it says in the Bible - according to my dear mother, who died in 2004: “True politeness is to say the kindest things in the kindest way.”