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Lindsay Metcalf
on Jun 19 2013 - 06:00 AM
My top five most important moments of the summer so far
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mara williams
on Jun 18 2013 - 06:00 AM
Hey, manchild, mama says: clean your room, wash the dishes, don't drink and drive.
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Emily Parnell
on Jun 16 2013 - 06:00 AM
Eating fresh, local produce is good for body and soul
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Jim Cosgrove
on Jun 13 2013 - 06:00 AM
I just want to buy some pants. Please, turn down the music.
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You know what that is, right? The words and sentiments that only another mom seems to truly understand. And when someone else hears them, you may as well be speaking jumbled words that make no sense. A foreign language.
But a mom, oh, she gets it. She speaks this Momglish.
Like, “My teenager was 15 minutes late for curfew.” To the non-mom that may be no big deal. But to a woman who’s been there, she instantly envisions the pacing, the worry, the cell phone in hand ready to call the Highway Patrol.
Or, “My toddler bit four kids at preschool.” So what, right? The poor kid’s teething and needs something to gnaw on. It’s not like there was any blood. But a mom? She knows the horror of worrying about what the other parents will think of “the biter.” She, too, has ducked into hallways just to avoid talking with the mom of the biting victim.
Two weeks ago today I spoke a little Momglish with a woman I’ve never met, yet with seconds I felt I’d known her for months. About 16 hours after that deadly tornado took out a large swath of Joplin, this mom stood next to what was left of her house. Just mounds of rubble and debris.
As her husband walked on and around the rubble, she kept wiping away the tears. She and her husband, and their three kids were huddled in a corner a blanket covering their heads, when the tornado hit.
Everyone was OK, and for that she was forever grateful. But just looking at all the devastation around her — on her block, the next one over and the one beyond that — she knew how long the road back was going to be.
And if she could just find a few things, maybe that would make life a little better. All across Joplin, other families were trying to do the same thing.
But for her, she was on a certain mission. Before she headed back what was their house that morning, her 5-year-old asked for one thing.
Bring Waggle home.
Just thinking about the request made her cry a little harder. I listened, nodding my head. It was a mom thing. I got it.
Every kid has a Waggle. For my little guy it’s FaFa. And for oldest, it was Woody.
At one point, her husband looked over at me , “You know it’s a stuffed dog, right?”
True, it wasn’t a real, breathing dog. It, thank goodness, wasn’t a person. Just a brown and white stuffed dog the little boy loved. But to bring it home would be like telling him, "See, everything’s going to be OK."
I remembered a frantic day about two years ago when we thought FaFa was gone. We couldn’t find the black stuffed dog anywhere. Not in the closets, the drawers, under the beds or in the cars. To this day, I can’t remember where we found him, that's not important. The only thing that mattered was that when we found it youngest screamed and hugged that little black dog so tight that I was glad it was stuffed and not alive.
So when the mom called me last week, I laughed when she started out by saying, “I know this may not seem like a big deal, but …”
No disclaimer needed. When she told me they found Waggle I was crazy happy for them. I told her if they hadn't, a woman had emailed me and wanted to buy her son a new one.
She got it. All three of us spoke the same language.
Your story yesterday and the column this morning both had me sobbing. I guess I get it, too. Thanks for writing this.Tears here, too! So thankful to speak Momglish. You translate well for those who don't, though. Rituals are SO important, at any age. I am so glad they found Waggle.I'm teary-eyed, too! I also read the story yesterday. Totally get it about Waggle. My 9-year-old has a stuffed animal, Baby, that's been with him from about 3 months old. He still sleeps with it! Glad they found Waggle!
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