Mothers say the cutest things ;)

Ok, first off I love my mother dearly, that is never in question. However at times my mom can say some things that just make me laugh, honestly, whose mother doesn't.

One of my personal favorites from when I was living at home was when she would want to call someone for something. It usually went something like this "Brent, Michael, Chris." Ok, so who did she want, me, my brother or my father? After a while I learned that the last name was who she wanted. And that's just kind of cute and part of the reason I love my mother.

In the past few years I have had to laugh at a few other things that have been said, in particular 'sage' advice that mom wanted to impart to me. The best was a couple of years ago, around christmas. I was home from Edmonton, still feeling a bit of the effects of mono and the break-up from the girl who gave it to me.* So what sage advice does my mother have for me, not something about there being more fish in the sea, she's far more creative than that. Her advice was "There's no hurry to get married"??? I just got dumped, who was I going to be marrying? But I guess that's the way mom thinks at times, at least I was able to laugh about it (after being oddly perplexed for a moment).

*Just imagine how fun that would be, first day of the symptoms was the day I was dumped. Add to it the fact that the key symptoms of mono are very close to what I normally feel after a break-up: loss of appetite and fatigue. Is it any wonder it took me over 2 weeks to figure out I was sick

So this morning I opened up my inbox to find a message from mom, with an attached picture of my cousin's little girl (who's less than a year old). In the text of the e-mail mom writes: "Isn't she a cutey - now, don't get any ideas - I just want you to keep in touch with the family". Evidently my mother and I think in different ways. I see a picture of a baby, I see crying, burping, teething, changing...well just a whole hell of a lot of responsibility, I'm not ready for that. Plus there is that little biological hindrance, you know, needing a girl to help out and all. And though things are going well with the girl, I don't think bringing up the subject of kids is good this soon. Actually, she has specifically mentioned not feeling a real maternal instinct or need, after all she was second eldest of 12 kids, she has done a lot of mothering as it were. And I have to say, I'm all good with that, sure kids look like fun for a short period of time, like an afternoon, but 18+ years...I don't think I'm ready to settle down that way just yet, of if I will ever be ready.

But it's all cute, I love the fact that mom is making sure not to put pressure on me to get married or to have kids. Or maybe she's trying so reverse psycology, but I have to say, when I agree with my parent's advice, I'm one to take it. To be honest, neither of those items are anywhere in site on my "to do" list. Hell, I think I have a better chance of wining the cyclocross national championships sooner than I will be likely to be thinking of kids. So don't worry mom, I'm not getting married any time soon, and don't expect grandchildren from me.

All of this does lead me to wonder what kind of stuff my little bother hears. Ok, so he's not really little, well he is a bit shorter and weighs less than me (yes that is possible). But he has a real job, and has held it down for something like 3 years. Plus he has the long term girlfriend, I think that they are going on 4 years (though I could be wrong there). So if anyone is waiting for the next generation of the family, I think Mike is much further down the path, sorry to move the focus to you bro, but you put yourself in this position ;)