If At First You Don’t Succeed…

“If at first you don’t succeed, do it like your mother told you.”

We all remember the famous mom advice we got as kids:  Wear a coat, brush your teeth, look both ways before you cross the street, put on sunscreen, don’t take candy from strangers…..  We would roll our eyes and grumble under our breath and walk off feeling annoyed because deep down you knew she was right but you didn’t want to hear it.  Then we become Mother’s ourselves and say all those same things to our kids only to have them roll their eyes and grumble under their breath…  Why is it so hard to take the advice of our Mom’s?!?!

I don’t have a good answer to that question because it shouldn’t be that hard. The fact is that when we put on our coat we stay warm, when we brush our teeth we don’t get cavities, when we look both ways we don’t get hit by cars, when we wear sunscreen we don’t get burned, and when we don’t take candy from strangers we don’t have to call Jenney Craig to help us work off the extra weight J (oh, wait, is that not what mom was worried about?)…

Sunday my 21 year old son came home from college to spend the evening with us. He was sick with a fever and a sore throat and it was clear he was miserable. As any Mom would say, I said, “Let’s schedule you to see the doctor”.  He rolled his eyes and grumbled something about how he was fine and he was an adult now and could take care of himself.  He returned to college and for the next few days when I called him he would tell me how incredibly sick he was and I would ask him to go to the doctor and he would grumble no.

Finally today I was attending my University of Utah Board meeting when my husband texted to tell me he was at the hospital with my son.  WHAT?! Yep, my son had let his throat become so swollen with a tonsil abscess that he could barely open his mouth and his throat was so swollen he hasn’t even been able to swallow water since yesterday morning.  ARGHH!!!  Had he simply LISTENED TO HIS MOTHER when she first asked him to go to the Doctor we could have avoided all this…but noooooooo….and now they might have to do surgery on him tomorrow morning if the problem can’t be resolved tonight with powerful medications.

He texted me from the hospital as he was waiting to be seen: “The hospital is like Disneyland…they tell you it is a magical place where all your problems go away, but then you get there and all you do is wait….”   Out of control….

I had to rush out of my Board meeting in Deer Valley to get back to take care of him tonight…even though he is a grown up now, right???

Yet even as I type this blog I have to be honest and admit that I know for a fact that if my own mother were to read this blog and then she were to message me with some motherly advice she thinks I should listen to I know exactly what would happen…I would likely roll my eyes and grumble under my breath…even though I would know she was right, I just wouldn’t want to hear it…

Have a great day everyone and listen to your MOTHERS!

~Amy

1 Comment

  • Leslie Rees says:

    “I just wouldn’t want to hear it…” Or to do it!! But I love you anyway 🙂 Take care of my grandson!

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