4 Things I learned on Mother's day

I am a lucky mom. These two guys here on the left made me breakfast in bed on Mother's Day - but it wasn't just pouring a bowl of cereal. They made ... wait for it ... wait for it ... EGGS BENEDICT!!! Just so you know, they didn't get their culinary skills from ME. Those are their dad's genes. But not only am I lucky, I am proud. Every year they do this for me, but today they out-did themselves. To use the words of my youngest, "I bet none of my friends made their moms Eggs Benedict today. And probably most of them don't even know what Eggs Benedict is!" But it's not about the food. It's about the effort and the thought they put into it. And they took great pride in making me happy.

But, I woke up to a note telling me not to come downstairs. I knew what they were doing (I bought some of the ingredients for them yesterday per their request). Nonetheless, I had to stay up in my room until it was all done. Bless their hearts, they got up at 6:30 to make it, and they weren't done until nearly 8:30. I woke up a little before 7:00. So that meant I was trapped in my room for quite some time. I didn't have my laptop, phone, or even a book. So I watched some TV (you can a see it there in the background). Just so you know, I almost never sit down to watch TV during the day. So this was a new experience for me.

As I was flipping through the channels, I stumbled upon an 80's music video marathon. I hadn't planned on watching it for long, but I couldn't help but laugh at the the hair. And the clothes. And the slow-moving images in the videos. I have always looked back at myself in photos from the 80s in horror and said to myself "Ohhh, my hair! Why didn't anyone tell me how ridiculous I looked!" Then it finally dawned on me: No one told me, because everyone else looked that way too. 

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Here's what I'm talking about. I think this was circa 1988. Pretty hideous.

That's where I finally got my inspiration for this blog. And just to warn you - most of them are NOT about Mother's Day (ha). But here are 4 things I did learn:

1. Sometimes we are all a product of "groupthink."

For those of you who might not be familiar with what groupthink is, it's when groups (or masses) of people take on the same way of thinking. It could be as harmless as thinking a new hairstyle is cool (think Jennifer Anniston's hair in the mid-90s). Or it could be as dangerous as a cult. But we are all victims of it and we don't even know it. I'd venture to guess that anyone who looks back at the 80s hair and fashion would agree that it all looks a little ridiculous. But, back then, we all thought it was super cool. So in a sense, we all bought into the "coolness" of the crazy clothes and hair even when we all looked silly. Groupthink? Maybe. Or maybe not. It's your call.

2. We shouldn't judge.

I hate to admit it, but as I was watching the old videos, I was judging the 80s fashion. And I was also judging the bad, cheesy 80s videos (I was laughing at them). But then I realized that it wasn't very nice of me to judge that era. I lived through it. Tons of people did. Whether we were a product of groupthink or not doesn't really matter. We liked it back then. And if you have ever been into a house recently that hasn't changed its decor at all since the 1970s, you know what I'm talking about. People actually thought that puke-green kitchen appliances and orange shag carpet were cool. So who are we to judge? Someday we might look back on 2014 and think that skinny jeans and stainless steel appliances and granite countertops were hideous. So don't judge. 

3. We should all get out of our ruts and try something new.

I admit that my "trying something new" was sort of "forced" upon me - laying in bed on a Sunday morning watching music videos. But as I was lying there watching it all, I admit that I actually enjoyed myself. No Facebook posts to make, no kitchen to clean, no phone calls to make yet. All I had to do was sit there and watch whatever I wanted. It's kind of sad that my "something new" was watching TV in bed in the morning. But sometimes I am such a creature of habit that I need to remind myself to try something different. So thanks, boys.

4. I have some pretty awesome kids.

Okay, I already knew this. But, sometimes I feel like nothing I say gets through to them. And that I have to do everything for them. But when I see my words reflected back to me or I simply leave them on their own to do something like make Eggs Benedict, they figure it out. And they do it to make me happy (although they did fight with each other along the way). I'm not quite done with the life lessons for them yet, but it's nice to see that I'm making some progress.

Well, there you have it. The 4 things I learned when I was "trying something new" by watching TV in my bed on a Sunday morning. I put that phrase in quotation marks this time because my son didn't like that I wrote "trapped" earlier in the blog. He said, "Mom, you weren't trapped! You could have come downstairs or I could have brought you your laptop or phone!" I think he felt bad by "trapping" me. But I didn't feel trapped. It's actually enjoyed it. And it's because of him "trapping me" that I wrote this blog. Thanks, honey! :)

Happy Mother's Day to all the awesome moms out there!! :)

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