Monday, October 27, 2008

"Be Careful!"

Andrew came home for the weekend on Friday. (He came because Mary Lee was supposed to play in a state volleyball tournament - but she sprained her ankle on Thursday. Details on my blog.) On Saturday night he told me he was going out to move the truck into his dad's shop for the night. As he went out the door I started to say "Be careful." Now Andrew is almost 20 years old, 6'3" tall, weighs 230 pounds, is strong as an ox, and basically can look out for himself and about five other people at the same time. He also was not even leaving our driveway. Yet I just feel better when he leaves to do something if I say "Be careful" before he goes. (Same with my daughter.) It's almost as if, if something did happen, I could at least not have to berate myself for not saying "Be careful." Isn't that a dumb little habit! Maybe it's universal to mothers everywhere.

4 comments:

Ada said...

We always said "be careful" to our kids when they left -- now they say it to us. Actually, Ang is teaching Nathan to say it so when anyone leaves their house, he says "be fareful" - can't make the hard K sound yet. I wonder if he has any idea what the phrase actually means.

kelsie c. said...

My mom always says that to me before I go anywhere and now Nathan says it to me before I leave too. Nathan can't say it right though so he says "be fareful" instead.

Anonymous said...

Yes, just ask Preston. Almost every day, even just to jog the dogs, he hears, "Be careful." Perry II used to worry if he didn't hear it. His friend's mother would always say it too and he once told me that if she would forget, he thought something might happen. It is cute that even Nathan says it.

Anonymous said...

While "Be careful" is meant well, I must admit it bugs me. My first thought is always "Do you think I'm going to drive on the wrong side of the road?"

At the same time, I suppose if it wasn't said I would be thrown off some.