The Universal Mother

[ailbhe]

Further to my earlier entry (can you tell Rob has taken Linnea swimming?) I want to mention the Universal Mother. That is, when someone is a mother, they often become by some mystical process of osmosis or quantum everyone's mother.

First, they become their partners' mother - checking for crooked ties, remembering social obligations on their behalf, worrying about woolly vests and so on. Then it expands, until they are everyone's mother, offering tissues to strangers in the street and clearing tables in restaurants on autopilot.

It's just She Can Cope syndrome really; anyone who has a history of being able to cope with stuff is given stuff to cope with, and takes on stuff to cope with.

But it's very scary, suddenly finding yourself actively suppressing the urge to spit on your hankie and wipe your older neighbour's chocolatey chin.

Comments

[k425.livejournal.com]

*grin*

I remind people to go to the loo before we go out. Fine if it's just OldBloke, a little disconcerting for people who come to stay for the weekend...

[gothwalk.livejournal.com]

When I was... everything between 8 and about 14, really, I was often told to see that my brothers were acceptably clean and tidy. This resulted in my once absent mindedly telling a neighbour - a large man of about 50, a farmer - that he had best go comb his hair, because it was a complete mess.