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Philosophical Monday: The Good Voices in Your Head

bettysittingIt’s interesting how you’ll read something randomly, and you have no idea how much it will come to mean later on in your life. Back in 2004 or 2005 — I can’t remember which — I read a wonderful Mother’s Day article about a woman who found herself hearing the echo of her dead mother’s voice, dispensing practical advice like, “Eat a little something before you leave the house to run errands” and so on.

At the time, I loved the article, simply because someone with a dead mother was actually speaking up on Mother’s Day. Having a dead mother on Mother’s Day is a little bit like being single on Valentine’s Day — but 100 times worse, b/c there’s always a chance that you won’t be single on an upcoming Valentine’s Day, but your mother is never coming back, which means Mother’s Day will always feel a little awful and weird.

However, lately that article has meant more to me, b/c I now totally get it. The other day, I was driving above the speed limit on the wet freeway and I heard my mother say I should slow down, because I’m a mom now and I want to get home to my daughter. So I slowed down. She’s also been encouraging me to hold on to banisters when I walk down stairs, read to Betty more, and schedule an eye appointment to get that red-flag, glaucoma-like cup behind my right eye investigated. “And while you’re at it,” she says, “You might as well schedule your next physical.”

And it makes me realize that Betty might not seem to be listening to me as she grows up, but she’ll definitely hear my voice later on in life. It also made me wonder if you other moms have been hearing your own mothers’ voices in your heads as you go about your days. And if so, what is she saying to you? Let me know in the comments…