Mother Knows Best, For Now

As I was whining to my mother this afternoon about how uncomfortable I was, how this "mini-heatwave" wasn't for me, she reminded me that things could be worse. My mom always has a way of minimizing how bad things are now and how much worse they could actually be. I suppose this is a technique to make me feel better and appreciate what I have. Today it worked. She reminded me of the news this morning about the tornado that hit a town in Kansas overnight, wiping out people's homes, their entire lives gone. "Imagine that," she said. "Everything you have gone. No home. No clothes. Nothing." That helped put things in perspective pretty quickly. Then she went on to tell me that women years ago had babies in the summer all the time with no air conditioning in their homes. They traveled to the shore, where it was cooler, in cars with no air conditioning. Sat in traffic, to and fro, sweating. "You don't realize how lucky you are, Debbie," she said. "You leave your air conditioned home, get in your air conditioned car and reach your next air conditioned destination." Geez, am I spoiled? I'm just trying to stay comfortable. I am an extra 30+ pounds heavier these days, I'm a little hot and I'm just looking for a little relief with modern day amenities. And then she said, "People didn't realize what they were missing because they never had it. Nobody had air conditioning so they didn't know what it would feel like to have it. They just went about their day and did what they had to do." After our conversation, I took a shower, got dressed and went about my day. You know what? I stopped focusing on how miserable I felt and how hot it was. I began to appreciate the things I have. My air-conditioned home and car. The clothing on my huge belly. The laughter of the little guy in the family room. And I felt better . . . for now. I guess sometimes mother does know best.