About Sandy Springs reporter. (Sandy Springs, GA) 2007-current | View Entire Issue (May 2, 2019)
Commentary | 19 MAY 2019 ■ www.ReporterNewspapers.net Mother’s words of wisdom Every so often (really, practically daily), I see lit tle gift-store books or inter net memes sharing “moth er’s words of wisdom” or something to that effect. These are deep, insight ful sentiments intend ed to guide the offspring through the obstacles of life. They are philosophical paradoxes: “It’s not about finding yourself, it’s about creating yourself,” or “The future does not lie in front of you, it lies inside of you.” Go ahead, do a quick internet search and you’ll see that Pinterest has 269 “Best Mommy Words of Wisdom,” and that’s just for starters. There’s Moth er’s Words of Wisdom to Sons, Mother’s Words of Wisdom to Daughters, to chil dren about to marry, to children rais ing children, to children adopting pets, raising plants, cleaning out basements, changing tires...Mothers have Words of Wisdom for every possible person and situation imaginable. These Words are illustrated with waterfalls, winding roads, or mountain vistas, all intended to underscore the fact that the phrases are dripping with sagacity. Even Harriet Beecher Stowe proclaimed decades ago that “mothers are the most instinctive philosophers.” I hate to let Harriet down, but I of ten see these “things my mother told me” Yoda-isms and a get a little pang of guilt, racking my brain to see if I can re call any pearls of wisdom that I shared with my own children. What did I tell them? “Don’t sleep with wet hair.” “Floss your teeth.” “Stand up straight.” I don’t remember doling out wis dom while I was trying to get them to school on time. I was mainly calling out orders and frantic interro gations while playing Beat the Clock: “Turn off the lights!” “Do you have your homework?” “Where are your shoes?” Now that they’re all grown up, and with no grandchildren anywhere on the horizon, my oppor tunity for imparting life lessons in pithy nuggets has practically passed. Yet still, my words of wisdom are purely pragmatic: “Remember your power cord.” “Don’t walk alone at night.” “Get enough sleep.” It seems as if the world around us has been boiled down to sound-bites and ta glines, Insta-phrases and 30-character bios. But that’s not how we live our dai ly lives. We live in episodes. We live in mini-series. We live in full-fledged sto ries. My words to my children were sim ply fragments of a whole, spoken to them as I tried to nurture them through childhood to adulthood. I’m not sure if I uttered wisdom, but I did try to voice encouragement. I wish I could report that I had sent my kids off to school with some kind of Zen-lilce phrase: “The road that lies before you may be rocky, but there is beauty in the jour ney.” But I didn’t. What was it that I did say? What words will my children remember of those I told them if they were to write their own book? “God bless you.” “Be grateful.” “I’m praying for you.” “I love you.” Maybe that was enough. Robin’s Nest Robin Conte lives with her husband in an emp ty nest in Dunwoody. Read Robin Conte’s debut book ‘The Best of the Nest’ “The Best of the Nest” offers 49 of Reporter Newspapers columnist Robin Contes witty essays on suburban family life, organized by seasons. They include some of the pieces that won Robin the first-place Lifestyle/Features Column award in 2017 and 2018 and first-place for Humorous column in 2018 from the Georgia Press Association. Order the book at bestoithenest.net Follow Robin’s book-related appearances at robinconte.com. HEATHER BERNARD, LCSW Heather Bernard is a licensed clinical social worker specializing in psychotherapy for children, adolescents, and young adults coping with conditions such as: ■ psychogenic non-epileptic events ■ functional neurological disorders ■ headaches/migraines ■ other psychosomatic symptoms ■ sleep problems ■ anxiety, depression, and behavioral concerns. 5555 Glenridge Connector, Suite 200, Atlanta, Georgia 30342 404.459.4028 I www.pediatriccounselingsolutions.com heather@pediatriccounselingsolutions.com 0 Square & EVENT SERIES Check out the Self Made Event Series by Square at squareinatlanta.com
