Column: Mind those words of wisdom from mom

One day to celebrate moms? Seriously?

They totally deserve more than that. They work every day of the year and they don’t take weekends off. I think they deserve the entire month of May, and that’s a minimum.

So today in my column, I’m carrying on the Mother’s Day theme. I’m sharing some wisdom and advice from my mom and a few special others.

“Don’t ever put a twisty, metal bread tie or anything like it in the microwave. Someone did this. It caught on fire.”

My mom tells me this every day and so far, I’ve eluded a fire-breathing microwave.

“Lock your doors.”

This goes for cars, houses, hotel rooms and any other door with a lock. One thing I love about technology, is that cars today, lock themselves, one less thing for my mom to worry about.

“Don’t go in the ocean. You could float away.”

This is legit advice. One year on vacation, my mom went in the ocean and yes, her raft floated away from the shore. Thank you, Mr. Lifeguard, whoever you were, for rescuing my mom at sea.

“Be careful.”

This is a profound piece of wisdom. It’s all encompassing, two words that pack a lot of punch. Imagine this world, if everyone would simply be careful. Careful driving, careful with their words, their actions, their possessions, their health, their kids, careful when going in the ocean… I could go on, but I have to be careful with my word count.

“If you can’t finish your meal in a restaurant, spread it around the plate, it looks like you ate more.”

This one comes from my husband’s mom, who never ate a lot. It’s been tried and tested. It’s best used when you don’t want people to think you eat like a bird.

“Better out than in.”

This was passed on to my mom from her mother. It includes a whole menagerie of things – bugs, pollen, rain, smiles, tears, compassion, worries and yes, those gaseous emissions, the behind the scenes action that originally sparked these words of wisdom.

And one last thing that my mom most recently told me: “Everybody gets their one turn at life.”

If you’re reading this, it’s your turn. And it’s your turn because of a M-O-M, the only mode of transportation into this wild, wacky, wondrous world.

This story was originally published May 8, 2016 at 7:01 PM with the headline "Column: Mind those words of wisdom from mom."