Mom's Advice

What advice did your mom give you? Or better yet, what was it she said so many times, that you now say it and catch yourself sounding just like her?

My mom always said, "Tell me what you don't have and I'll tell you how to live without it." Boy, did I hear that one over and over again! Laughing! There was so much I didn't have. It's not that I was deprived, I certainly wasn't. What I was, was imaginative. I wanted things that only I could imagine. My mom used to call me Hollywood. I would plan parties and in my mind, they were nothing short of million dollar Hollywood sets! In the true spirit of her quote, she would come up with all sorts of ways to make it as good as it could get with what we had at home.

I'm still as imaginative as ever, but I learned so much from my mom in how to make something from something else or even from nothing! I hope Mason will appreciate this time tested skill when he's all grown up. In the meantime, Dave doesn't like to hear these words as we accelerate getting on the freeway at the start of any road trip. He'll say, "I feel like I'm forgetting something." And just like my mom I automatically say, "Tell me what you think you forgot and I'll tell you how to live without it."