throwback thought ~ you should never listen to mom

As a child and teenager, heck even in some moments of my adult life, I've always challenged my mother by rebelling against everything she said.  Now that I'm a mother, I can confidently say that there are times (not always, but moments) where I probably should have listened to my mother.

Growing up my mother gave me a lot of advice and a lot of them I never took to heart.  Now some of those things proved to be true - it just took me many more years to understand what she was saying.  Like when she said to...

• Aspire for a career in fashion.  She always saw me working in the world of print media for one of the major fashion magazines and honestly, where I've been in my career it's not too far off.  However, it wasn't until I started my blog did I understand my love for fashion and had I listened to her earlier maybe it wouldn't have taken me so long to figure out.  Clearly she saw my love for fashion at a young age when I didn't recognize it.  
• Always take pictures of friends with me in them. - I've always loved taking pictures, but I would always take pictures of just my friends.  Looking back at all my old pictures now, there really aren't a ton with me in them and while I was able to capture that memory, sometimes I do wish my face was in them.  The memories are always there, but I'm now old enough to wish I could remember what I was wearing, how I smiled or how horribly un-controllable my hair was in ever moment.
• Not to stress out over things I couldn't control because things happen for a reason.  My parents will tell you that I was a very stressful child - that I had control over everything in my life.  To a certain extent I now believe you can steer your life toward the direction you want it to go in, but we can work hard, we can wish and we can even pray for all things to go our way, but life is un-predictable.  All we can do is accept the things that happen in our lives and understand the lessons we can learn from them.
• Respect her because one day I would have a child and understand the challenges I would have with a child like myself.  As my toddler constantly yells for daddy and tells me he doesn't want to kiss me goodbye - I am quickly experiencing what she constantly reminded me as I was growing up.  I now fear that my child will be the tough cookie I was and can only hope that he gets his father's calm demeanor.

These sayings didn't mean much to me at the time, but now they have meaning.  Even though I'm stubborn now in my older age, there are some things mom said that haven proven to be true.  Like everyone, I'm not perfect and while to this day I most of the time choose to challenge my mom, she was right on a few things.  Lesson learned - listen to what mom has to say, resist the temptation to challenge every word and re-think some of the advice she gives.

Throwback Thought is a new series exploring random thoughts that I once thought to be true.