Interviewing My Mother

Happy Mother's Day! 

Like many people, I'm at home with my Mom today celebrating Mother's Day, and I decided about a month ago that this year I'd like to interview my Mom and ask her some questions about her life and her journey in motherhood. I found some questions from a bunch of different sites and picked some that I thought would be fun for her to answer and also for me to hear. I looked through all the photos on my Google drive for pictures of me and Mom, some of which go back to 2015. It's cute to see both of our hair colors change (hehe)

I hope you enjoy this post, it's been a while since I've posted an interview here!

When did you realize you were no longer a child?

I would say with my first real job which was at Chase Manhattan Bank. I was working at a gourmet shop prior and through a customer I got that particular job. I was very proud of myself but I was treated like an adult by everyone for the first time, and I realized I was no longer a child. I still remember the salary I made. 

What’s the one thing you would have done differently as a Mom?

I might have stayed home a little longer as a new mom. I feel that I could have done more with them, but I had excellent childcare that backed up raising my kids. I was very lucky to have likeminded people raising my children with me. My children meant the world to them and treated them well, so I never had any worries. 

Why did you choose to be with Dad?

You don’t always choose who you’re going to fall in love with, it just happens. It happened for me when I wasn’t looking for it, I was enjoying myself and getting to know a lot of people. I was working hard and it just happened. I saw myself wanting a future with this person, and it was everything that I had in my head. All the ideas I had in my head, I saw them personified in him. 

In which ways do you think I’m like you and not like you?

You’re very driven the way I am. You’re very organized the way I am. You’re not as ‘mushy’ as me in some respects, in that you have strength that sometimes I lack when my emotions get in the way. I find you to be a little more rigid than I am when it comes to the judgement of people, so I applaud that in you because that’s something you need to figure out about yourself. But I see you like me in a lot of ways that I’m very happy and proud of. I didn’t think you’d like what I like. Sometimes I’ll say I saw something I liked and you’d say you bought the same thing or liked the same thing. So sometimes you’ll surprise me with things. 

What’s the best thing I can do for you right now?

Be my daughter. Be a young woman who seeks advice, who still tells me that she loves me, to be compassionate to people’s problems and use her judgement. To be my friend when I need it, but always know that I’m your mother first.

Is there anything you wish had been different between us or would like to change?

Your jump into adulthood when I felt you weren’t ready yet. Your hesitation to come to me sometimes because you don’t know what I’m going to say. You prejudge without just saying something and letting it fall there and I react how I react. I don’t want you to hesitate. Your hesitation is difficult for me to process sometimes, and it hurts. Especially when you were around 19 or 20 I thought it was my failure as a parent, because you didn’t come to me. But someone wise told me that that’s the way children grow. They grow apart a bit and then they come back. I wish I would have had you a little younger, as well. 

Thank you for reading, I'll see you next time :)