Like Mother, Like Daughter

The older I get, the more I realize that I am slowly becoming my mother. When I was younger if someone had told me that one day I would be just like her I would have gone to my room brooding and being angry for a long time, but now it's not so bad!
There are several ways I'm becoming like her, first off are the sayings we use. When I was younger I remember that my mom always said WEIRD things. She would say, "I can NEVER have nice things." Or the famous, "Just wait until your dad gets home!" She would always curse us with, "One day you'll have kids that treat you the same way that you treat me, and then you'll understand." There was a time when I thought that these comments were uncalled for and that she was just rambling....but guess what...I now say these things and I understand where she was coming from when she uttered them....She was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. The one phrase that I find myself using a lot is the famous, "Just wait until your dad gets home!" When I was told this, I would immediately freak out and hope she'd forget...I feared my dad. When I utter this to Cam, he simply nods his head and carries on in what he was doing. He has no fear of his father. It's sad that this SAME phrase, uttered in the same exasperated tone of voice has such different responses.
The other way that I'm becoming my mother is the fact that I need quiet time daily. When I was younger she'd gather all of us into the living room (I'm the oldest of 6...so there were lots of bodies sprawled out all over) and she'd turn on a quiet cartoon (usually the Flintstones or Tom and Jerry) and she'd conk out and insist that we'd either nap or quietly watch cartoons. I LOVE that tradition that I'm carrying on with...the only problem is I cannot get Cam to realize that this is a GOOD thing! The little girl I babysit EASILY realizes the brilliance of this plan and will sleep for me for a good hour to an hour and a half. Cam on the other hand is a pill!! I'll turn on cartoons and turn the volume WAY down to where he can barely hear it, and I will fall into my beloved nappy time! All the while Cam is roaming the house trying to find something to keep him occupied and entertained. The boy just won't obey me!
And finally...the way I'm morphing into my mother is the fact that we both have the same warped sense of humor and sense of justice in the world. We both laugh at the same STRANGE things...both get angry at the same things....and we both realize now that the only thing a mother ever truly wants in her life is peace and silence!
I love my mom. She and I are a lot alike, but it took us many years, many hours of crying, many hurt feelings, and many arguments to get to this point. I love her and I'm glad that I grew up to be JUST LIKE HER! (Happy my birthday to my mommy! After all, she is the one who made me possible!)