Just Like Me

Much to my chagrin, I have noticed more and more that my son acts a lot like I did when I was his age.
I know other parents who have been experiencing the same problem. How does that happen? Is there a big book in Heaven that mandates that our offspring should reprise any horrible habits we had as children?
I was a slob, so, I now have a slob.
I had left my things lying around the house, so now my son does the same thing.
I had walked on the carpet with muddy shoes, and now my son leaves his tracks around the house.
But why should evolution be this way? It’s not like my son’s actions can teach me a lesson. I can’t go back and not be a slob now. It’s too late. Wouldn’t it be better if I had a son who drank too much coffee, or spent too much time working at the computer, or felt insecure about his financial situation - something that held relevance for my life TODAY? A mirror into my present soul so that I could learn to be a better person in the here and now?
For a long time, I chalked it up as one of those great galactic mysteries, that is, until I called my mother recently to complain about my son’s habits. That’s when she dropped the bombshell.
“I know why that’s happening to you,” she said cheerfully.
“Why?”
“Because, every night when you were a child,” she explained, “I prayed to God that you’d have a child just like you.”
I did a double take. “You prayed for that?” I asked. “You really wanted that to happen?”
“Yes. So did your father. We even made grandma pray when she lived with us.”
“You did this together?”
“Don’t be silly,” she retorted. “I went first and then your father.”
“What about grandma?”
“She called a prayerline - she said the spirit moved her.”
I shook my head. “I’m surprised the three of you didn’t just bathe my body in oil and do an exorcism.”
“You were 13,” she exclaimed. “Grandma said that would give her the willies.”
“At least someone was sensible.”
“True. Of course,” my mom continued, “it was grandma’s idea to have Father David stop by one night and chant over you when you were sleeping.” My mom paused for a few moments. “I bet grandma is smiling down from heaven right now knowing your son has fulfilled our prayers.”
“Great,” I replied. “Well, mom, I got to hang up now and chip dried Cheerios off the linoleum.”
“Amen,” she said.
When I hung up I lit a candle and prayed the same thing happen to my son.
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This is our darling Caleb… actually this is a picture of our four children. Every year we take the kids to different locations and take pictures for our christmas card. This one would have been the perfect one except…he made ”the face”…that is what we call it. “Mom! he’s making ‘the face’….He does this to make his class mates laugh…his sister laugh…he does it in stores when my back is turned. *sigh* He is the boy who forgets that I have just mopped and runs across the room in his muddy sneakers…..*oops sorry mom*….who brings all the white clothes from his floor as I am taking the last load out of the dryer....Well...I'm off to light a candle