Embrace the Quirks

When my older son lived with me two years ago, he loved to watch funny videos on his phone. When he saw one he thought I would enjoy, I would hear, “Hey mom…” before he would show me his phone. All day long at random times, “Hey mom…” While washing dishes, cooking dinner, folding laundry, paying bills- “Hey mom…” To be honest, it got quite annoying until I realized that was his way of hanging out with me, so to speak.

When he moved away to join the Marines, we had no communication for several weeks. I would have given anything to have my train of thought interrupted with a “Hey mom…” You never know how much you miss someone’s quirks until they’re gone.

I live in Washington state, and my stepmom, Kay, lived in Texas. Every time I would post something on Facebook about needing a babysitter or missing home, Kay would comment, “I’ll watch them” or “Come on home!” It used to get under my skin so much that I changed my posts to say, “Anyone IN MY AREA…” She died last summer from Covid, and now I would love to see her name pop up in the comment section.

We hear all the time from people whose loved ones have died, “He used to leave wet towels on the floor… if I could have him back, I would never complain about a wet towel ever again,” or “My baby woke up every two hours, but now I would give anything for a 3am feeding.”

I love my younger daughter with all my heart, but she is super emotional and dramatic. She doesn’t try to be that way, it’s just her nature. I have even attempted to get her to be less sensitive to no avail. It would be like someone trying to stop me from singing random song lyrics- it’s just not going to happen. I had to learn to accept her for who God made her. It’s hard, to be sure, but it’s the only way to go.

I don’t want to wait until someone is gone to realize that a person’s idiosyncrasies are a part of them too. It’s not only the good and pleasant things about us that make us who we are but the not so pleasant ones as well. And who knows, someday that one quirk may be the thing I miss the most.