Sunday, November 21, 2010

Change Your Self...Help






For as long as I can remember my Mother has given me self help books. They are mainly in regard to love and relationships. It started off with the best seller, “Are you there God? It’s Me Margaret.” This original self help book discusses a young girl's trials of loving her new body and God. After this little gem, my Mother was on a roll, gifting me with only the crème de la crème of self help books. Books like, “He’s Just Not That Into You,” and Steve Harvey’s book, “Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man.” Recently I came to the edge when she handed me her latest find, “How to Know If He’s Going To Marry You In 30 Days or Less." Now, I’m a lucky girl. I’ve had a few marriage proposals, some of them serious, some of them not. I’m a girl who loves love and would someday like to have a husband and a few ankle biters. I believe I would thrive as a wife and mother. It could very well be my calling in life.

Over the years, I’ve had some bad luck in the love department, but I’ve had some magical moments, too. Falling in love is a beautiful thing. Falling out of love is a process we all have to go through to grow. “Grow with love,” as they say. Reality was, I wasn’t ready to get married. I had many items on my "Things To Do Before 'I Do' " list. This long list consisted of all my wants and desires. I wanted to travel by myself, I wanted to crash a wedding, I wanted a small career success and many more fun things. I was never quite ready to be married, especially with this list looming over me. Then, recently I realized I don’t have anything left to do on my list! Maybe, just maybe, I’m ready now that I’ve completed all the "To Do’s."

I understand where my Mother is coming from. It’s from a place of love, she only wants to see me happy. She’s seen my heart get broken, and she wants grand-babies before she’s in diapers herself. She knows I’ve always wanted children, and playing ‘house’ was my favorite game as a little girl. What is this need to see the ones we love paired off, and married? My older sister was married when she was 25 years old. I was 23 years old at the time. My grandmother said to me the week of the wedding, right after I had broken up with my latest boyfriend, “Don’t worry dear. Twenty-three isn’t considered an old maid any more.” I was in shock. Happily, she followed up her comment with, “You’re beautiful. You’ll have no trouble finding a husband.” (Thanks, Granny.)

To all my ladies, and a few fellas out there who are feeling my pain, (and sometimes shame) of this subject, have no fear! I’ve come up with a few titles for self help books for your mothers and fathers. Read On...

1. How to Tell if Your Daughter Is Fed Up With Self Help Books in 15 Days, or Less.
2. How to Marry Your Children Off Without Them Knowing.
3. Are You There God? It’s Me, and I’m Not a Grandmother Yet!
4. How to Cope With Your Unmarried Children.
5. 30 Ways to Make Peace and Stay at Peace With Your Unmarried, Ungrateful Children.
6. Everybody Poops - The Grandparent Edition

Carry on!

2 comments:

  1. This is one of your best posts. You do an amazing job telling it like it is in a funny, clever and honest voice.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you so much Fabiola! It was one of my favorite posts to write. Thank you for reading.

    ReplyDelete

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