2003-11-24
"Just don't get sick."
So Dad told me after I arrived in Uruguay:
"Just don't get sick."
It's that sort of advice that all parents give that you can't always follow (and not necessarily of your own choosing).
Other words of wisdom that I couldn't help but disregard:
"Don't fool with boys."
Now, I must have heard that one at least every day of my existence, perhaps even in the womb.
Did I listen?
No.
Should I have?
Mostly.
Also,
"You can say please."
It haunts me to this day so that now, whenever there's a pause after my asking for something, I hear his voice in my head.
And so I say please.
Further, (again, these are expressions I must have heard tens of thousands of times) "you must face the consequences of your actions," often followed by a lecture on Demosthenes or some other Greek thinker.
Again and again and again, until you can't take it anymore, and then again some more. For good measure, you understand.
What's amazing is the extent I'm turning into my parents, even though I don't have kids yet. I, do, however, vent my motherly frustrations on all the children I've ever taught or nannyed, repeating dozens of axioms until they repeat them back, rolling their eyes like I must have.
"Just don't get sick."
I love my dad, but that one didn't do me any good.
betholindo at 3:11 p.m.