Happy Mother’s Day 2011

Happy Mother’s Day 2011

This is a my mom. Four years old and full of spunk.

This photo, with an impeccably well-groomed child perched on an equally well-groomed pony, standing on a freshly swept urban sidewalk, shaped my vision of an ideal childhood — the one I was so cruelly denied.

For years I used to beg my mother to buy me a pet horse. Kind of like the one pictured above. Only bigger and with a longer mane. And without the spots. I wanted a chestnut mare. And if you’re going to bother getting a horse, it might as well be the kind you like.

“But dear, we live in the city.” To her, the logic was so clear nothing more was left to be said.

“We can keep the horse in the garage and I can walk it in the park.” To me, these solutions were so obvious nothing more was left to be said except “What shall we name it?”

I never got the horse.

Or the pony I was willing to bargain down to. Or the dog. Or the cat. Or the squirrel that hung around the yard. Eventually Mom caved and allowed me a pet snail, which disappeared the first time I took it for a walk in the garden.

Since this is Mother’s Day, I would like to officially apologize to the woman who not only gave me life but have never once threatened to take it away despite relentless requests for pets. I’d also like to say sorry for my non-stop chatter when she was trying to bake, my total inability to clean up after myself and for breaking one of her antique liqueur glasses by flipping my coat around, despite being told daily not to flip my coat around.

I guess karma has a sense of humour. I finally got my pets. And this morning I came down to this.

toilet paper roll

I’m guessing the cat won’t apologize. Kids!!

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  • Terry
    Posted at 15:19h, 08 May

    HILARIOUS! I seriously laughed out loud there. Isn’t it funny how we all tormented our mothers and yet had no idea how annoying we must have been. Ah,….great mothers!! 🙂 Happy Mother’s Day.

  • Robin Smart
    Posted at 15:33h, 08 May

    Dear Sis,
    Don’t worry – you made up for it the day you got an ice-cream maker and started using the neighbours as taste testers.
    Are you sure it was the cat??
    Love,
    Robin

  • Charmian Christie
    Posted at 17:24h, 08 May

    The sad thing is, once in a while I knew I was being annoying. And I ramped it up.

    Happy Mother’s Day to you, too! Thanks for taking the time to comment on this special day.

  • Charmian Christie
    Posted at 17:26h, 08 May

    If only ice cream made everything better!

    And yes, I’m sure it was the cat. Andrew’s nails are too short.

    Besides a certain orange tabby sits on the toilet seat eyeing the roll, waiting until it looks the other way…

  • Lisa MacColl
    Posted at 17:49h, 08 May

    Our new black and white cat carries toilet paper rolls onto our bed and kills it. Or, in case we’re being particularly stupid, leaves the shredded, dead remains of the roll in front of the wet cat food shelf. Any questions?

    When I caved a few days ago and did Easy Bake Oven with my kid, I had a flashback to the millions of times I did the same thing when I was a child. I can’t ever remember a “not today dear” although it was the old, turquoise blue kind with the rails that the cake pan would fall off of and you would have to take it apart to get the pan out. I need to forget about the PIA factor and do it more often. It’s one of my best memories.

    I think I broke curfew once in my life. The sight of my mother sitting in the wing chair in the bay window with THAT LOOK in her face cured me of ever doing that again.

    I took my mom out today, sans child. We had high tea, and actually got to have a grown up conversation. Raising my own child has given me a new perspective on what a great mom I have.

  • Terry
    Posted at 21:00h, 08 May

    What doesn’t ice cream make better? 🙂

  • cheryl
    Posted at 21:27h, 08 May

    Love this, Charmian. You raised your cats with the same sense of humor your mom obviously raised you with — a really, really good one!

    Have fun with your mom 🙂

  • Charmian Christie
    Posted at 21:59h, 08 May

    You had an easy bake oven? Oh, that’s something else I begged for and never got 🙂 I bet you daughter will have fond memories of this.

    Sounds like you celebrated Mother’s Day in high style. To mark this special day, I picked my mom up from the airport. Betting your meal was better.

  • Charmian Christie
    Posted at 22:00h, 08 May

    I my world, there’s little that won’t benefit from a scoop of ice cream, except perhaps my waistline.

  • Charmian Christie
    Posted at 22:02h, 08 May

    Thanks, Cheryl. I spent quality time with my mom today driving her in from the airport. She and my dad had been on vacation and I can’t believe how much I missed her. Almost enough to forgive her for not buying me that horse 🙂

  • Lesley Camelford
    Posted at 08:09h, 09 May

    Loved this Charmian. I too wanted a horse since I could talk, Had the cats, dogs and a rabbit, but I wanted the horse. Never got it. My daughter started asking for a horse when she was little too, and at 25 is still asking!

  • Charmian Christie
    Posted at 08:24h, 10 May

    Glad to know I’m not the only horse-deprived child out there. Mom used to tell me I could always get a horse when I grew up. Well, I grew up (sort of) and learned there are by-laws against keeping a horse in the city. Stupid City.