Mother knows best

Each year I grow wiser; In turn I acknowledge that I am unyieldingly ignorant. What might appear as a contradiction is an ironic truth. With more wisdom comes the realization that you are a forever growing, ignorant being, who will never know it all. The irony of growing older runs even deeper than that, as you realize how wrong you were for the majority of your youth. This might discourage a pessimist who feels as though he is always one step behind, and will continue to be. If you have an optimistic nature, one might see past mistakes as lessons learned, and hope for pure improvement in the future. I on the other hand am a realist. I see the past, the present and the future for what it is by concentrating on today. I take the realization that I was once ignorant and combine it with the understanding that I always will be. I work towards a better understanding of life by acknowledging that I am far from understanding it, and welcoming new information with my mind wide open. To keep your mind wide open is to give yourself the gift of learning. It sounds simply enough, but is rarely followed. The youths of our society often refuse to acknowledge their ignorance and the wisdom of their elders, and as I continue to grow I am faced with the truth of a matter. The children should cover their ears, and adults should rejoice. The parents of the world know a thing or two about life.

  Today was a typical Friday morning. It began with my alarm clock screaming, my cat sitting on my face, and a lukewarm shower to match my cup of tea. Falling into the groove of my morning, I made something out of my mess of curly auburn hair, threw on a pair of black leggings, and grabbed my favorite sweater. Although my sweater isn't something you would consider extraordinary, it has beautiful simplicity. It's a chunky cream pullover from The Gap that goes with anything. What is now a key item in my wardrobe was once the bane of it. You heard me correctly, in another ironic twist; I use to hate my favorite sweater. A present from my mother, I didn't always give it the recognition it deserves. She purchased this sweater when I was a grade school teenager, unaware of my ignorance. This was a time when The Gap didn't represent style, but was said to represent being "gay and proud". That was the death of The Gap in grade school. My prejudice wasn't solely because of this, but developed from the common knowledge that oversized clothing wasn't in style at the time, another grand example of irony. I've also faced the possibility that I didn't like it because of the obvious reason that my mother liked it first. As a young, teenage girl, I could not agree with my mother’s taste in style on sheer principle.

With that being said, my sweater didn't see the light of day until recently, when I began college. As I put on my sweater this morning, all of these thoughts ran through my mind. My mother was right to have gotten me this sweater. She was right about it being comfortable, stylish, and something I would one day love. I questioned my previous, backwards principles, and wondered what else I had been wrong about. What else did our parents know best about? Shortly after, I joined my little sister Haley for breakfast.  Looking at Haley is like taking a rocket ship back to 1999, and watching me eat breakfast before elementary school. Besides that she could pass for my twin, she gives my poor mom the same sassy attitude that I had back in my heyday. After our cereal, my sister was heading off to school and my mother mentioned that Haley should bring a jacket because it might rain by lunch. With a toss of her curls and huff and a puff my sister exclaimed, "Why?! I'm never cold and I don't care if I get wet!”, and the tantrum began. Suddenly I wasn't just watching myself eat cereal, I was watching a mini me berate my mom, just like I had. Suddenly I felt defensive. I was on the other side of the fence this time, and it was a cold realization. Over my life span, I have picked countless arguments with my mother, and many of those arguments had a wrongful premise. My sister shouldn't have argued with my mother, or complained. In her best interest she should have happily grabbed a sweater. In that moment she should have appreciated all the wonderful sweaters my mother had gotten her, and should have wanted to take one to school to keep warm with. This seems most logical, of course. The problem is that children are not logical, and no amount of lectures can open their eyes to the ignorance that is youth. They have yet to acknowledge the ignorance within us all. In that moment I felt all the times I've yelled at my poor mother weighing down on me, and just wanted to say thank you for my favorite sweater.

Although I am less ignorant than I was in my childhood, I remind myself regularly that my ignorance is only on a grander scale now. I will continue to learn, make mistakes, and most of all value good advice. In the mean time I await for future lessons to reveal themselves and bring my current ignorance to light. Although I wish I hadn't made past mistakes, keeping those lessons close helps me understand the process of growing today. A part of growing up is realizing and accepting that the growing never ends. Don't be overly optimistic, or too pessimistic, but understand that ignorance will never be depleted. Your ignorance will only be subject to greater lessons. Lessons that I hope we are all mature enough to learn.

 In the future when someone has good advice to share, or a helpful suggestion, I will think twice before writing off valuable information. Now, I am thankful for those who know more than I do. I give my mother the respect and acknowledgment that she deserves for her wisdom. It is my mission to convey this concept to my sister, so she too can understand that mother knows best. I've always heard that someday we'll thank our parents, and for me that day was today.