04 March, 2012

Approximately fifty things we like about Mum, because she is fifty


Asks that particular kind of question, all the time  

Broken fingers, on the growth plate

Came to every home game

Can stay awake

Cheerful nagger

Coffee problem

Creative speller

Design enthusiast

Designer

“Do you want ice cream with that?”

Does the bills

Does the taxes

Does the taxes on time

Doesn’t like loud music

Doesn’t like music at all, really

“Don’t do it, Carter!”

Enjoys practicing the piano with Claire

Even tempered

Flat waffles

Flowers!

Folds laundry really, really well

"Gargle with salt water..."

Gets annoyed when she cries

“Go, Speedy Gonzales!”

Good natured

Goes ahead and does major things without consulting or discussing them, because she figures you would have approved if you'd known

Goes ahead and does major things without consulting or discussing them, because she knows you wouldn't have approved if you'd known

Goes out and buys cats

Got called out when she was actually safe; yelled at ump

Had Sarah

Has a fun habit of answering your question by asking another question

Has a strange phobia concerning the placing of slightly soiled knives on a kitchen table that is going to be wiped off in a minute anyway

Has dent on the side of her nose, care of her 2nd daughter’s noggin

Has an acutely artistic eye

“Have I got anything in my teeth?”

Helps spouses be prepared for all the hostile people out there in the world

Her dad

Her brothers and sisters

Her mother

Her mother's hot fudge sauce

Homemade soup

“I’m telling you, brown and black match!” 

Inexhaustibly industrious, unfailingly positive

"It's because you're not taking your vitamins!"

Jerry Lewis as those three female back-up singers

Keeps at it until the job is done

Keeps repeating the same thing over and over until she gets what she wants

Kept paying for Caitlin’s phone for years and years, which was really annoying

Kept paying for Caitlin's phone for years and years, which was really awesome [this item is the only remaining trace of a successfully fended off attack from a hostile computer virus, Ed.]

La Cañada, California

Level headed

Likes to talk out loud during the opening credits, at movie theatres

Loud laugher

Loud laugher when we show her something we have in our teeth

Loves being cuddled by kids

Made Spence go on that Trek, which not only did not increase his testimony but actually caused him considerable trauma

Made those flannel blankets for the boys

Morning person, squared

Netflix binger

Never has all 10 toenails at the same time

Not too fancy, thankfully

NPR listener/amoral liberal

Often asks this question: “is that…?”

Once watched 8 Mile while folding church laundry

Participated at the Special Olympics, where she was mistaken for a Special Olympian

Pig food

Practically killed that peach tree

Pretends to like that outfit you’re wearing, even though it’s extremely obvious that she doesn’t

Really loud laugher

Savage pruner

Scared of leaving phone messages

Sent her boys off to a Labour Camp

Strong backed

“Superstar,” in Tommy Boy

Sweet natured

Takes your arm in an affectionate way and accidentally/painfully zings your funny bone

Talks back to temple workers

That Mum and Caitlin and Drew and Sarah laugh

That photograph in her grade 12 yearbook

That time she thought her water broke, but it didn’t

Thinks that clapping over and over again will make kids want to get out of bed and work and all

“Tiramisu…” 

Tripped and bounced on that pregnant stomach that Matt was still living in

Two pushes, out comes Caitlin

Ultimately failed as an athlete because she has no killer instinct

Ultimately succeeded as a human being because she has no killer instinct

Unfailingly positive, inexhaustibly industrious

Used to actually be afraid of pulling into other people’s driveways

Volunteered so consistently and consecutively and effectively that the school district ended up throwing jobs at her

"Watch out!"

"Watch out!  I just ___."

“Well there you go.”

“What…would…Jesus…do?!”

Whenever she is thanked for something by her family, she responds with "Oookaayyy..!" 

(Sharon Anderson, born March 4, 1962)