I miss everything I used to hate about being a kid.

When you’re little, someone cooks ALL your food for you.  And if you were anything like me, you hated it.  I put up such a fuss over eating basically anything.  I hated dinner so much that I gave up eating meat altogether when I was a teenager!  It stuck – that was half a lifetime ago and I still cringe at the sight of pork chops.  I just wish I had a “personal chef” again like when I was a kid!

And bedtime!  I hated being told to go to bed.  I could never fall asleep.  I have vivid memories of watching the clock tick the hours away, staring at the walls of my bedroom, unable to drift into slumber.  When I was older, reading and knitting and listening to cassettes over and over until I was finally lulled into sleep.  Sleep used to be so hard, and so boring!  Now, I fall asleep on the subway, in my dinner, on dates!  I wish I could just look at the time, announce “Woah!  It’s my bedtime!” and everyone would understand (especially when I’m at work!).

Let’s talk about baths.  Being told to take a bath when you’re a kid is just the WORST.  All those year I wasted not enjoying the simple pleasure of lying in warm water, relaxing, without a care in the world…

When you’re a kid, you have someone watching your back ALL THE TIME.  Reminding you to do your homework, clean your room, brush your teeth, turn off the TV so you can get work done, wash the dishes.  If you’re lucky, you even have someone to wake you up in the morning instead of the violent jarring buzz of the alarm on your iPhone lying on the pillow next to you!  And if you’re really lucky, by the time you stumble out of bed, they’ll have already made coffee and be asking you what you want to eat for breakfast so you don’t miss the bus.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, we should all be so lucky as to have moms who watch out for us when we’re growing up.  Thanks for having our backs and helping us grow into (mostly) functional adults.

Happy Mother’s Day.