Family Traditions: “Because She Wanted Us To Be The Kind Of Family Who Ate Pancakes On Sunday”

With the “catastrophic” event of my 9 year old son no longer wanting to dress up for Halloween or go Trick or Treating, my mind started catapulting to places in the past far back in the memory bank. The memory bank, a solid placeholder for past times that we can withdraw from for years to come depending on how much we have deposited. When I was signing the mental withdrawal slip, I was withdrawing the memory of when I decided or when it was decided for me that I would no longer go trick or treating? But as often happens when you go to make a withdrawal the tally starts to build as you begin to rationalize that maybe just maybe I need one or two more memories to go with that other memory and before we know it, the vault has been opened.

It is said that memory can either be a blessing or a curse—or both, depending on the memory or memories deposited & withdrawn. With the passing of my Mother, a few short oceans of time ago, and the most recent independent stand of my son (reference—catastrophic event), the theme of Family Traditions has been brought to the forefront of my mind. Are they traditions passed down from generation to generation, a “habit” propelled onto the next generation; are they born out of the need to create new traditions to eradicate or replace the traditions you grew up with but didn’t much care for; do they emerge after trying something new that you enjoyed so you now perpetuate the act year after year until it has earned the title of tradition through steadfastness? Or is it some kind of combination of all of those scenarios plus so much more?

One such tradition in my life I believe has had the single most significant impact of any other, it is the tradition of saying I Love You. Those words leave my lips every single day, most days several times. I have never been afraid to utter those words, they flow freely and unreservedly. My Mom, Margie, the most loving and giving human being I have ever known, never heard those words as a child. A heartbreaking notion to me as the only thing I had ever known was my Mom saying it to me everyday, several times a day. She broke the cycle. When she told me that story years into my adulthood, I couldn’t help but have some animosity towards my Grandmother but my Mom being who she was never thought of her Mother with anything but love. She said: we have to accept people where they are and the only way to do that is to love them. Love was her tradition handed down to me. Thank you Mom…

The quote attached to the title of this article came from an episode of The Walking Dead. It was a dialogue between two characters talking about the way it was before their world as they knew it, ended. Why if the pancakes were so horrible did you keep eating them week after week, was the question posed. “Because She Wanted Us To Be The Kind Of Family Who Ate Pancakes On Sunday.” It doesn’t take something as dramatic as a zombie apocalypse to end life as we know it, death in whatever form it takes does the job just fine.

In the end it is never about pancakes, turkey, spaghetti or any other symbol of family tradition we gather for. It is about the creation of the memory to put in the vault that we can withdraw from for years to come long after the tradition maker is gone.

What traditions will you start—today? ♥

“Because She Wanted Us To Be The Kind Of Family Who Ate Pancakes On Sunday”

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Kimberly

Author; Blogger; Self-Proclaimed “Woman” of all trades and Self-Proclaimed “Master” of some! AFAA Certified Group Aerobics Instructor since 1998; MA Licensed Real Estate Agent since 1995; former Certified Financial Counselor and Passionate Advocator of Financial Education for Women. Tech Geek; Home Cook & Most Importantly, Mother of 3, my #1 Reason for Living!!!