Mrs. Mom

The other day the movie Mr. Mom came on our television. In my life, this is a classic movie. There are many quotes from it that are wonderful. My husbands favorite is "Wow Dad, one punch!" ONE of mine is "Wow, what did you use (to kill him) a 38?" Response, "A 38, 39, whatever it took." I loved this movie when it came out in the early 1980's. I was only 14 or so but it was funny and creative. It was written by John Hughes after all. It has Michael Keaton, Teri Garr, Martin Mull, and supporting players, Christopher Lloyd, and Jeffrey Tambor.

The premise is of course the husband loses his job and the wife goes back to work to support the family. The husband has many cliched, exaggerated troubles adjusting to being a stay at home parent. At one point he gets hooked watching soaps. They show scenes from an actual soap. Not only do I watch that soap, some of those characters are still on it!

As a stay at home parent, I can identify with the problems this gentleman had. The drudgery the routine. In a particular scene the husband and wife argue over his lose of focus, his appearance and the wearing of his "flannel shirt". Now I am not sure why but yesterday, I looked down at myself and got scared. You see this winter my wardrobe has morphed into sweats and my favorite gray fleece Y campaign for kids pullover. It has become a type of uniform. The pullover is definitely in need of a cleaning and the fleece is no longer soft and full it is rough and worn.

Last year when I was working I clearly put more effort into my look. This year I find myself getting dressed well to do errands etc. IF I am doing it after I have showered and exercised. If I do things before I exercise my dress is sweats and a UT shirt. So what to do? If I were in the movie the Rocky theme would play and I would be seen cleaning, turning off the TV, and burning my shirt. This I know will not happen. Instead, I will continue to exercise, clean the house, sell the house, and go on from there. (without the benefit of a soundtrack)

One problem, Mr. Mom handled so well in this movie was getting his son to give up his security blanket. My youngest doesn't have a security blanket, she has a bin of them. I wish I could use his logic on her.

"I understand that you little guys start out with your woobies and you think they're great... and they are, they are terrific. But pretty soon, a woobie isn't enough. You're out on the street trying to score an electric blanket, or maybe a quilt. And the next thing you know, you're strung out on bedspreads Ken. That's serious."

What do you think? I just may give it a try. But then again, I think it may be to late.