Legacies and Stranger Danger

Mike wrote in w/another needless blast from the past:

April,

Formerly little sis. I stopped by mom’s house to get a butter tart this morning for my daughter and me, as I was driving my daughter to school. You may remember that my daughter is enrolled at H.G. Davis Public School, the same elementary school I went to and it’s 3 blocks away from our house. When we got inside mom’s house, there was mom talking to Connie Poirier about how lazy you are for driving to school instead of taking the bus. When she saw me, she decided to change subjects.

Mom said, “I remember when Michael was little and how much he complained about going to school even from the very beginning when he was in kindergarten.” My daughter’s ears perked up at the possibility of an embarrassing daddy story, so she said, “What did daddy say?” Mom said, “I would put his scarf around his neck and the whole time he would say, ‘How can I walk to kindergarten, ma-it’s freezing out there!’ And then he would raise up his little mittened hand to show 3 fingers up, which you couldn’t tell because he was wearing mittens, and he said, ‘It’s three whole blocks away! --- I’ll DIE!’ Your father complained and complained about walking to kindergarten in the cold and he never once died from it. So I raised up my one finger, which you could tell it was one finger because I was not wearing mittens, and I said, ‘Michael, when I was your age, I walked 6 blocks to school and we didn’t even own a car!’ That shut him up.”

I was grimacing at mom’s delight in being right over my 5-year-old self, when my own 5-year-old said, “But Gramma Elly. What about Stranger Danger? It says: Try not to walk anywhere alone. Walk with a friend.” Then Connie Poirier said, “That’s right, Elly. Things are not the same as they used to be.” Mom said, “What? No. No. No. When I told Mike that back in 1979, it was the same thing my mom told me when I was little, and I even thought bubbled ‘…and I swore I’d never sound like my mother’. You need to say the same thing to your daughter, Michael. It’s a Patterson legacy.”

I said, “Now wait a minute, mom. You told me that buying the family homestead to raise my children as a new generation fills the Patterson legacy. So, the Patterson legacy is my house.” Mom said, “No, the legacy is do everything with your kids, just the way I did it with you.” My daughter said, “What?” Connie Poirier said, “Gramma Elly wants you to walk to school and complain about it, like your dad did.” My daughter said, “But Gramma Elly. Stranger danger! Dad has to take me to school. It’s not safe.” Mom said, “Meredith, when I was your age, my parents sent me out the door to school and did not walk me one step of the way, and we didn’t even own a car!” My daughter said, “Let’s go daddy. I’ll get a Stranger Danger book for you Gramma Elly.” I said, “Right. Let’s go Merrie. It’s freezing out there. We don’t want to die on the way to the car.” Then my daughter and I left with my mother definitely grumbling about “kids these days”.

In the car, my daughter said, “Why did Gramma Elly make you walk to kindergarten alone?” I said, “They didn’t have Stranger Danger back then.” My daughter said, “What did they have?” I said, “Lucky kids.”

Love,
Michael Patterson

Mike, I need you 2 tell me what's missing where I have "[ . . . ?]" If U look back @ yr original post, U can C that part got eaten and the link kinda took over the rest of yr post! [Edited to correct this]

BTW, if it comes up, U mite have fun pting out 2 Mom that she never walks 2 Lilliput's!

Jeremy, don't worry abt the whole back-rub thing. I hafta remember not every guy is like my Dad and my future gets 2 B diff fr. Mom's.

Apes