Interview with my daughters

I have 2 lovely daughters, Eldest and Youngest, who are 10 years apart in age.

Using a set of questions circulating on Facebook, I interviewed both about me, their MOM (which we joke sometimes stands for "Mean Old Mom"):

1. What is something mom always says to you?
Eldest (age 21): "Hi Sweetie"
Youngest (age 11): "Hi Pumpkin"

2. What makes mom happy?
Eldest: Getting something done- the house clean, the other sock knit, the quilt top pieced together
NPR and coffee in bed.
Youngest: When she doesn't have to cook breakfast or dinner, like on the weekend.

3. What makes mom sad?
Eldest: Septic systems, seeing lack of love in the world. I would say carrots that are lethal to fingers, but she's got the highest pain tolerance of anyone I know. It's more like the inconvenience of them that makes her sad.
Youngest: When my brother and I argue and fight.

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
Eldest: Silly things like . . . me not know.
Youngest: When she speaks a whole bunch of German.

5. What was your mom like as a child?
Eldest: Totally Bodacious- big boobs, long legs. Damnit, why didn't I get those genes?
Youngest: Maybe a good big sister, but also a bit of a trickster.

6. How old is your mom?
Both: 49!

7. How tall is your mom?
Eldest:: 5'9"? 5'10"?
Youngest: 5'8"? She's a head taller than I am, and I'm 5 feet tall!

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Eldest: Quilting, knitting, baking for her girlfriend get-togethers.
Youngest: Mop the kitchen floor (NOT)! Cuddle with the fam while listening to Papa read a chapter.

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Eldest: Live life. When I was at home- Mom would teach nature programs, run errands, and shuttle the children without driver's licenses.
Youngest: Blog!

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Eldest: Developing an ecology-for-kindergardeners curriculum that somehow rid the world of all evils when her students are grown up.
Youngest: Being a good cook.

11. What is your mom really good at?
Eldest: Doing stuff (you are not very good at not doing stuff). Specifically: PARENTING, cooking, handicrafts, connecting people to the natural world, talking politics, being relaxed at parties.
Youngest: Knitting.

12. What is your mom not very good at?
Eldest: Not doing stuff. Chilling out before parties. Anticipating the sheer volume of German pancakes to make.
Youngest: Keeping the house clean.

13. What does your mom do for a job?
Eldest: Teaches nature-stuff at the nature-center, and administrative stuff too now. Runs the family as a volunteer position. (Blogger's Editorial note: I totally get a kick out of that last one! If that's a volunteer position, does that mean I could resign and take on a new hobby?)
Youngest: Teaches kids about nature stuff.

14.What is your mom's favorite food?
Eldest: Ventaglio and latte, most things not from this continent.... spaetzle, that corn and beef casserole, cardamom cake, vegetables that her family won't eat, strawberries.
Youngest: Salads, and of course, coffee.

15.What makes you proud of your mom?
Eldest: You're a wonderful woman, a wonderful mom, and a wonderful wife. You're an excellent role model.
Youngest: Makes sure we improve ourselves.

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Eldest: The mom from For Better Or Worse or else the human in Get Fuzzy.
Youngest: The mom in Calvin & Hobbes. And maybe Jon in Garfield (not because he's stupid, but in how he's responsible in making sure people don't eat too much food). Mom won't let us snack right before or after dinner!

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Eldest: Chit chat, cook.
Youngest: Bake and craft.

18. How are you and your mom the same?
Eldest: A lot of ways- hatred of water wasting, inability to sit still and wait, love kids, food, girl-crushes on Barbara Kingsolver, caring about the world (society, humanity, and planet), distaste for TV.
Youngest: We're both girls, and we have the same blue eyes, but I have freckles.

19. How are you and your mom different?
Eldest: Music tastes, stubbornness (I think mine will wear off with age), shopping, exercising, and cooking styles, body types (I still look like a body builder--- just a pudgy one now)
Youngest: I have freckles and a tint of red color in my hair, and mom's is getting gray! And our taste of music is different.

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
Eldest: How much she's put up from me and still doesn't hang up the phone when she hears my voice.
Youngest: She cuddles with me. She'll squish spiders on the ceiling in my room. She'll let me use her laptop when she's not blogging. She's funny...

21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
Eldest (her father and I are divorced): ummm..... the fact that she's not married to him anymore? That they were able to have a functional divorce and co-parenting arrangement?
Youngest (her father and I are married happily): To sleep on his shoulder. And he cooks mean omelettes for breakfast on weekends. And he's really funny!

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Eldest: There's probably some trail or deck on Rodak trail or whatever, where the trees frame the water just right, underneath the mountains, and when she looks at it, all is well and good in the world. I bet also the sauna after working out at the gym and her favorite bookstore, Tidal Wave, and maybe the refrigerated section of Fred Meyers when she has hot flashes. Plus, as 5-yr old Marius said about his mom: the bed.
Youngest: Germany, and anyplace sunny and warm, like Utah. Here at home her favorite place is in bed with her laptop, blogging! (Editor's note: busted!)
Credit: Paintings by Mary Cassatt