Sunday, May 10, 2009

Mothers to end all mothers ...

Well, my blog-a-day good intentions got whacked into left field Friday night when I opened the front door to find my college kid, home for a surprise Mother's Day weekend visit! Saturday and Sunday went by in a whirl.

Now that said college kid has departed again, I'm faced with blogging on Mother's Day. Determined not to become maudlin (it would be very easy to do so... there's a sudden empty space where "da kid" was rattling around just minutes ago, gathering laptop, clean laundry, various electronic chargers, etc. etc.), I've decided to point you-all to this great BookFinder blog post on the worst mothers in literature. Hey, we can all take comfort that none of these ladies are the LEAST like us. Or our mothers. Right??

Anyhow, I had been thinking about it before I peeked at the list (having first seen mention of it elsewhere). My fave for a "top 10" pick wasn't listed: the stepmother (or, in the earliest version, the mother) of Snow White. Yes, I'm talking about her royal highness The Queen (of some mythical fairy-tale land). I mean, just because her daughter/stepdaughter is young and beautiful ... "Take her out in the forest and bring me her heart!" Yikes! And honestly, Snow White sounds like a lovely girl—does housework, friends with the animals, sings. Think about it: no snarky teen "eye-roll." No snippy "You're not the boss of me!" No sex, drugs, rock-n-roll ... What does The Queen have to complain about?

I do see Hansel and Gretel's mother/stepmother makes mid-list, though, at #5.

Guess we all can appreciate our own mothers and give ourselves a break for our little faults today!

10 comments:

Patricia Stoltey said...

The hardest thing about our kids coming home to visit is the moment they leave. I see the same thing in my mom's eyes when I'm ready to head for the airport. Moms just plain miss their kids.

Patricia
http://patriciastoltey.blogspot.com

Enid Wilson said...

Very interesting list but I think you are right to list snow white and the wicked queen. But hehe, the queen in your photo looks too nice to me.

In Quest of Theta Magic

joe doaks-Author said...

Hmmm… Gertrude from Hamlet??

Well, not sure if marring her husband’s brother was really incest, or adultery, or whatever other word gets stuck on it. Her former (operative word) husband was dead, afterall…well, except for the ghost, but, technically, dead.

Further, she didn’t know he was murdered, much less by whom.

Now, as to having just a bit too close a relationship with Prince Hamlet…yeah, maybe in the Mel Gibson version she does, not sure what the Bard meant for her to be, though.

Still, I don’t think I’d have her on the worst list.

Best Regards, Galen
http://www.galenkindley.com

Anonymous said...

Little faults in an otherwise wonderful mother are just beauty marks. Everybody's human. Nice muse and post. :)

Jane Kennedy Sutton said...

Fun post. My mother always talked about the after the 'kids' left deafening silence and I've also experienced exactly what she meant!

Jane Kennedy Sutton
http://janekennedysutton.blogspot.com/

Karen Brees said...

First thing I learned as an adult was to forgive my mother. Next thing on my agenda is for my kids to forgive me.
I may be out of cell range for the next 12 days. I will post and respond as I am able.

N A Sharpe said...

Great post - it's got to be hard when the kid's leave

NA Sharpe
http://nasharpe/blogspot.com

Ann Parker said...

Yep. It's tough when the house gets more and more empty. At least, it's happening gradually, one kid at a time.

And Karen, I love what you said:
"First thing I learned as an adult was to forgive my mother. Next thing on my agenda is for my kids to forgive me."
And let's keep in mind that we need to learn to forgive ourselves as well. I'm still haunted by things I've done or didn't do ... yelling at "da kids" when I was tired, being too strict/not strict enough, blah blah blah.

Dani said...

Hey, wait a minute. I am The Queen. What are you trying to say? LOL.

Dani

KK Brees said...

I still cry when my kids leave. But the laundry they leave behind, in the way of wet bath towels and dirty sheets, helps me recover.