Familiar Phrases

The BlogGals' "Friday Five" this week is to list "things you used to hear your mother or father say." Oh, can I play this game!

Given the cracked and crazy, lewd and loveable people who raised my parents, there was plenty of Beth Henley material left over for my own childhood. Let's just start with Papa Jim phrases, since they're the most colorful.

1. "Cowboy up." (Or.... in more heated moments, "Suck it up!")
2. "It builds character."
3. "Don't be a sheep."
4. "We must learn to IMPROVISE!"
5. "From those to whom much is given, much is required."

Mama Kay's reflexive, oft-repeated words would be more like "I'm sorry" and "Can I help you?" That's something of a dichotomy in parenting styles (and I haven't even broken the surface!)... but all in all, their words remind me that I had it good. Signs of a fine, fine Texas childhood, they are!

...Especially since both parents said one more thing, to myself and my brother, just as often as they could: "We're proud of you."

This morning, I called Miles into the kitchen for breakfast after pushing him off for 15 minutes. He emerged from his room to say, "I was very PAY-tient, wasn't I? And that makes you proud." And, oh, how the cycle repeats itself....