I’m addicted to Facebook, no point in denying it! All my friends and family see me there everyday. Mostly I’m addicted to sharing my thoughts on anything and everything. Social media has given me an opportunity to not leave this world without showing out. I know you think I said that wrong and it should be ‘showing off’ but I’m very much a country girl and that’s the way we say it ‘roun’ here.
Sometimes though, I see thought-provoking things on Facebook. Today it was a meme showing 55 Things You Should Say to Your Children. A great list of positive words for everyone to learn and practice. I hope my children can find more on the list that they heard from me, than I found and heard from my mother. Here is the list:

These are good things… I was raised in a different culture however. A culture that was intent on not sparing the rod and not spoiling the child. This was in turn tainted by bad behaviors passed down generation by generation… Of these 55 things I can remember only 10 from my childhood and those were only from my Mother. These are what I remember and not disrespectfully…

#2 I never heard the words “I Love You” from my Mother until I was 25 years old and that was after I had hugged her (for the first time I could remember, maybe) and told her I loved her.

#23 I forgive you, I was 52 the first time it was ever said (“it’s OK and I’m sorry too”, were the exact words) and not just implied.

#27 It’s your decision, this one… seems like I heard it my whole life, along with “it’s your bed, you got to make it and sleep in it, not me”.

#29 Don’t give up, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way” those are the exact words and I KNOW that was said to me my whole childhood.

#32 Don’t compare yourself to anyone else, wasn’t said but only implied. However, for the most part just the opposite was practiced, because some folks were considered better than us, and we were to ‘mind our station’ in life. As a ‘girl’ I was told not to consider vocations that were considered only for men.

#38 You don’t have to do what everyone else is doing, her exact words “If everyone else is jumping off a cliff, doesn’t mean you have to.

#39 Anything is possible,( same as #29, “If there’s a will, there’s a way”.)

#48 I am so excited to spend time with you. That wasn’t so evident in my childhood. I was the oldest of eight so I can understand she would like some quiet time to herself. She never said those words to me, but was always super ready to come spend time with me. I never, ever had to beg her to come. Many times she just called and said she would like to come visit a spell. She always told her friends and neighbors, any who would listen, about her older daughter that lived in St. Louis or later on “Down in South Missouri” and with pride I was told.

#54 Never stop trying, again this goes back to #29 and “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

#55 I will always love you, she never said it, but I knew it anyway, because another thing she taught me was (and it isn’t on this list), “Actions speak louder than words” and I did and still do believe her.

#55 I will always love you, she never said it, but I knew it anyway, because another thing she taught me was (and it isn’t on this list), “Actions speak louder than words” and I did and still do believe her.