Who needs moms? I have the Internet! Don’t we all? In the olden days (like 10 years ago) when adult children of any age came across a road block, a conundrum, a ‘what do I do with this’ moment, they called mom [there are exceptions, of course - perhaps exchange the word 'mom' for 'supportive female who knows a lot more than you do about a lot of stuff because of lots and lots of experience'].
Mom, what should I wear to look more professional for the job interview?
Mom, can you look over my college application essay?
Mom, when you were pregnant did you feel these aches all down your back?
Mom, how come I can’t get my garden to grow?
Mom, if I don’t have any baking soda can I substitute something else?
Mom, my boss is a jerk, what should I do?
Mom…
We don’t need mom anymore. Now we have…Google. I Google the question, breeze through some answers from God-knows-who, some credible, some anecdotal, and some just plain cra-zy. I have forums and chats and threads to tell me what to do, sometimes in real-time, sometimes not. About.com or Wikipedia will no doubt have an article on what I want to know no matter what.
And so we’ve lost our connection to mom. Sure, mom is there to exchange thoughts and feelings about the day – - but when was the last time I picked up the phone and called either of my moms to ask her (them) how to do something or tell me about her experiences?
Mom, why can’t I get the baby to stop crying – - what should I do?
Mom, where should I go to get a new vacuum cleaner bag?
Mom, what was the name of the restaurant/tv show/author I used to like so much when I was little?
Mom, can you tape a show for me and save it til I can come over?
Today I was mopping [miracles never cease]. And recently I pronounced on my FB status that Swiffers suck and I won’t use them anymore unless I get rid of the kids and the dogs and have a maid every other day. So I went out and bought a rag mop and a bucket and several kinds of floor cleaner. I’ve mopped twice since then with diluted solution. So far so good.
Today my floor was just gross, grosser than usual, grosser than gross so I swept and then decided to follow the ‘tough jobs’ directions on the bottle of cleaner: “For tough jobs use full strength and rinse immediately.”
So, yea, full strength, ok, great – - ooooh nice and soapy and lots of dirt and sticky stuff and mystery liquid and dog pee coming up. I rinsed the mop a bunch of times and now it’s time to…
RINSE THE FLOOR?
I am ‘rinsing’ and sloshing and thinking, I should call mom and ask her what rinsing is, my mom or my husbands mom will do because they both know a lot of stuff. What? What in the heck does that mean? I try to get clean water and a clean mop and start rinsing but it just mops all the undiluted soap around the room. Somewhere in the back of my mind I remember that if you leave too much soap on the floor it actually attracts dirt and leaves a film so we don’t want that.
And then I have a second thought, I could just look it up on the internet. I bet I could find out in 2 seconds what this rinsing business is all about. Meanwhile, in a moment of, oh whatever I take a clean bucket of water and just tip it out onto the floor. This, after all, is what rinsing means to me (unless you live in a region of the world where it is common to have a drain in the middle of the floor and a spray hose to rinse all the soap down the drain. These places have very clean floors. I have watched these floors be cleaned and, after the hose rinse, it is very, very satisfying.)
So now soapy water, a lot of it, is running onto the wood floor over the threshold from kitchen to dining area (real wood, people) and under the stove and the fridge. More sloshing. More bucket dumping and more sloshing. Then I just say, Oh well and go get a big beach towel and sop it all up. I can still see a film so I load up the mop with clean water again and hope to ‘rinse’ again and I just see a bunch of bubbles with each swipe.
Call a mom. Stat. Or Google it. Truth be told, as of yet, I haven’t done either one. I want to pontificate about it here first.
Do we need moms? [Not just for free childcare, I mean.]
In my world the answer is a resounding YES [brown noser.] My moms have S.M.A. many times. And that is an understatement. Moms are important.
And when I think about it, they are just as easy as Google. If I call they’ll pick up pretty quick – - or call you back pretty soon. They would probably love to hear from me!
I will ask both my moms about rinsing – I WILL NOT GOOGLE IT – - but I will, true to my digital age and to save lots and lots of talk time, email them my question instead.
I’ll let you know what they say. And perhaps, next time I will make the time to pick up the phone and call them instead~
Moms, by phone, text, email, or skywriting you are still needed, wanted, and loved!
Post Script
As predicted they both replied within the hour. Here is what they said:
From Dallas, "Using clear clean water, going over the floor several times. and in a subsequent email: That is with a mop! <<she knows me all too well."
And so does she>>
From Austin, "Rinse means use clean mop with clean water may have to change water often and rinse mop often, point is to get all cleaner residue off floor because any residue will almost immediately start buildlng up new dirt. Tedious. Hard work. Best to use 2 mops 2 buckets or sources of water. Pretend floor is your hair, wash til all soap out."
Thanks moms!
This article was written as part of a blog post on www.one-row.com and after careful review this author realized, it must be shared in honor of Mother's Day 2011!
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