2007-05-04
a trigger is a trigger
|It's funny the things that will trigger a memory. The other day I was walking down the stairs after waking up early in the morning. I actually heard some birds tweeting outside and I remembered what my mom used to say to wake me up in the morning.
She would come into my room and say in a sing-song voice, "Time to rise and shine. The birds are singing."
As a kid I remember thinking 'f--- the birds, I want to sleep' but I always got up.
My dad, in stark contrast, would use his hand to smack the door (a nice, jarring sound to startle one from the depths of slumber) and snarl, "Get up!"
Thankfully my dad wasn't the one who usually woke me up.
I tell my own kids, "Good morning, time to get up" in the same sing-song voice my mom used.
***
While we're on the topic of "things our parents used to say" (this is when you imagine the set of 'The $25,000 Pyramid'" with the triangles turning on the wall and me sitting in the chair with my hands in the restraints) my parents had a particular phrase they used when they told us we looked nice. They would say, "You look like a movie star!"
This has to be a generational thing -- both of my parents are in their early 80s. When they went on their honeymoon (driving from Michigan to Myrtle Beach) my mom wore high heels, a dress and pearls. My dad wore dress pants and a tie. To take a road trip!
I think back in the '40s and '50s movie stars did dress up and pay attention to their clothes, appearance, etc. Anyway, that's not my impression of today's crop of actors. So it cracks me up to hear my parents tell my 4-year-old "You look like a movie star!" And then, in turn, my kids will tell each other, when they are playing dress up, "You look like a movie star!"
2007-05-04 at 5:59 a.m.
