Paybacks

As some of you may know, Olivia is pretty witty when she wants to be. She has pretty much got things figured out. She reminds me a lot of myself when I was young. (Not the witty part, but the "figured out" part) She listens to everything I say. If I am on the phone with my mom, dad, Adam or friends...she is intently listening. She knows my every move. If I have mentioned it, she remembers it. Nothing gets past my little person.

I can remember being a child and wanting to go EVERYWHERE with my mother. I would listen to her conversations and ask her very grown up questions about what was going on with her friends and/or our extended family. She was usually pretty willing to tell me as long as I swore up and down to keep my mouth shut. I knew that I could continue to get "the scoop" if I followed her directions, so I did.

I am getting major paybacks!

On Saturday evening I planned to go visit my friend Shannon's new apartment. Shannon's sister was in town and we were going to hang out and finish all of the unpacking and decorating. Olivia overheard me on the phone and immediately asked to go. I tried to explain to her that it would be no fun for her but she kept on and on. (I can remember hanging on to my mother's car window begging her to take me with her to a volunteer event when I was about 6. Familiar? Oh yes!) Adam and I devised a plan for me to go "get my pajamas on" and he was going to keep Olivia occupied. Guess what? She was onto us. She would not let me leave her sight. So Olivia won. She went with me.

I started thinking about all the things that my mother allowed me to do with her when I was young. She let me go with her to set up for vacation bible school at church, attend volunteer events, decorate for charity balls, and go with her to dinners and on shopping trips with her friends. I was usually the only child around, but I loved feeling grown up and spending that time with my mother.

My mother and I haven't always seen eye-to-eye. We are, in some ways, very different. I think that doing things with her as a child and having what must have been some "tough" conversations for a mom and to have with her young daughter made us how we are today. She hasn't always agreed with me or me with her, but we love each other and talk almost every day. I can only hope that allowing Olivia to "hang" with me and talking to her honestly when she has questions will enable us to have the same type of relationship that my mom and I have now!