I mean it’s Mother’s Day. What did ya’ll think the good thing would be for today, of course, Mothers, Mom’s. And since we each have our own Mom’s who are special in all their unique individual special ways, let’s focus on incredible archetypal Mom’s from Literature, Pop Culture, and History shall we?
Betty Draper in Mad Men, Don’s first wife. Her hair style was always on point. Her clothes, so buttoned up Jackie O’ cool. She seemed to have a way with her children, feeding them yams, making sure they didn’t wrinkle the dry cleaning clothes when they played with the bag over their heads, making sure they felt safe trying new life experiences… like cigarettes at age 12. She was into health and a healthy lifestyle for her children, She wanted the best for her girl when she exclaimed to others in her daughters presence, “It’s a shame they put fat kids in leotards.” Awww, Betty. So sweet.
Her children loved her so much they called her “Mommy Dearest.” She only wanted the best for her children and planned a life where they would never have to use wire hangars.
Let’s not forget maybe the Mom that really had a lasting and powerful impact on her son Norma Bates. I mean if a test of motherhood is how your children turned out, Norma had to get the Nobel Prize or Oscar for Mothering. Her son Norman loved her so that even after she passed, Norman would dress up as her in homage and take care of the family business in the best way he knew how. So sweet.
I mean Gertrude from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. First, she’s a queen which is pretty cool. And then she might possibly have gotten her husband’s brother to take care of her husband and to say thanks…she married the brother. This is only implied, mind you, but she brings up a perfectly well-adjusted and resilient child in Hamlet. Shakespeare knows how to write a model mom.
Before there was Stiffler’s Mom or Stacy’s Mom…who let’s face it had it going on, there was Jocasta, mother of Oedipus, Greek Heroine as told by Sophocles. Jocasta loved her first husband the King so much that when somebody prophesied that their son would grow up and kill the King, what did Jocasta do? She took her son Oedipus away and whisked him up to a remote hilltop to leave him there to do whatev’s…like die or death or some such shenanigans. Well, her husband did get killed but she re-married and it can’t be said that she didn’t love her 2nd husband, I mean son, I mean husband….wait it’s kind of complex. Complicated. Years later there was this lovely German-Austrian gent named Siggy who wanted everyone to remember what a cool Mom Jocasta was and came up with this funny SNL catch phrase, the Oedipus Complex. Silly Siggy.
See no Mom’s are perfect but don’t you feel better about the Mom you are and have been just reading about these other Mom’s? And don’t forget to tell your Mom on her special day, thanks. Here’s an example, “Mom, Sarah Swinney, thank you so much for not beating me with coat hangars.” It is for that reason I can hang up my clothes with confidence to this very day. Now enjoy this song:
ZandMe's 999 Good Things 