Loading…
4
I thought my mom was nuts for making me call her when I got home, then I did the math on 14 years of it
Growing up I hated that rule more than any other. Every single time I walked in the door I had to pick up the landline and say four words: I'm home, bye. I figured she was just nosy or bored. Last month I was visiting my parents in Ohio and found a little notebook in her nightstand drawer. She had written down the time I called every single day from age 12 until I moved out at 18. That's over 2,000 entries in her handwriting. I asked her about it and she said she just wanted to see the pattern, like if I was always later on Fridays or something. I still think the rule was a lot, but it was not about control like I thought. Did your folks have one weird rule that turned out to have a reason you only found out way later?
1 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In1 Comment
lily_singh23d ago
Did your mom ever tell you what she actually did with that notebook? My dad had this rule where I had to leave my backpack by the front door every night, and I found out years later he was checking it for notes from school about field trips and permission slips he could not afford. He never said a word, just quietly took care of what he could and let me think he was being annoying about the mess. That notebook of your mom's was probably less about patterns and more about having something to hold onto during those years when you were slowly pulling away.
2