Tuesday, August 30, 2011

My Mother, the Vandal

My mom put a "p" on the light switch with a marker. I'm sure it stands
for "porch."

To know my mom is to love her, and to love her is to accept that she
writes on everything with a sharpie. You can't get mad at her because
most of the time it's reasonable markings and conveys useful
information. She writes the dates she bought them on her appliances
and The dates when she made a recipe and notes how it came out. She
will write your name on your property for you, whether you wanted it
labeled or not.
Occasionally she labels something that I wish had been kept pristine,
but mostly I'm just grateful for the lessons on sharing important
information in writing, dating every piece of paper you ever write on,
and "If you value it, put your name it." Property she values and has
labeled includes (but is not limited to): electronics, pillows, camp
chairs, coolers, pans, shovels, strollers, buckets, books and charging
cables. If you can't write directly on something, use a luggage tag.
I have my diaper bag, camera bag, and stroller labeled this way. I
bought an engraved tag on eBay (a small pet tag) to attach to Nick's
newest stethoscope (bought to replace a missing stethoscope).


"If you value it, put your name it," will be put on her headstone some
day. But it's true. This week I found out that Nick had recovered our
stethoscope that had been missing for months. He was able to get it
back in part because he could say, "This is mine, it has my name on
it." You really can't stop thieves, but honest people can't get
something back to you unless you've put your name and number on it.
Anything you lend to someone should be marked.

Keep the information where you can use it. Today I picked up our
minivan after it spent nearly two weeks at a body shop. They must
have disconnected the battery, because the radio wouldn't work until
I put a security code in it. If you don't know the code, you have to
pay the dealership to put it in. While stopped for a train, I pulled
the users manual from the glove box- my mom had written the code
inside. I listened to NPR the rest if the way home.

Thanks, mom!

7 comments:

sarah said...

Makes you wonder what our children will call us and what they will consider for our headstone epitaphs!

Elaine said...

Your mom is wonderful!

Wendy said...

I just love your mother! Queen has actually given me this speech before. She's TOTALLY right!

Sara said...

I had someone tell me the other day that they remember all the advice she gave at my bridal shower and it has changed her life.

I date so many things thanks to her. Just the other day I dated my dental floss.

Liz said...

What a great "ode to linette" this post is. Labeling things has changed my life.

oHBogado said...

I know I am the only male in this comment-sphere but I just wanted to say that "write your name on it" and "Write the date!" were the first two advices your mom gave me when I just arrived to the US... :)

Janelle Dobson said...

This made me chuckle because it reminded me of my mother-in-law. When my Michael and I were dating I remember kind freaking out when I happened to look inside his shoes once to find his name written there and thinking "what kind of weird 24-year-old nerd writes his name in his shoes!" I even considered breaking up with up because surely that was a sign of a truly neurotic personality. Came to find out later that it was his mother's doing. When he was young she would write his name on everything- included every single individual crayon in his 64 pack of crayons. Crazy- but certainly useful.