Things my mama taught me

I am the proud aunt of three beautiful nieces and one very handsome nephew. My nephew and his sister are now in their 20s and I didn't have the chance to teach them some of the things that I know and enjoyed as a child. Things I learned from my mom. My younger nieces ages 6 and 2 get the benefit of watching me as an adult be silly with them. For some reason a few weeks ago I had this idea that I NEEDED to teach them how to do the Hokie Pokie. We had never done this before. The 6 year old is reluctant to do anything now because she wants to be cool but she is a bit shy. The two year old is a pistol and I love that about her. We are in the car and I ask the six year old if she knows how to do the hokie pokie and she says "oh Aunt Sheronda, of course I don't." Well she is grinning and her nose crinkles up so I know she is lying. I look at the 2 year old and ask her and she nods her head slowly up and down indicating that she knows it and she doesn't even wait for me to start it. She's pretty slow in singing it and tries to pronounce all the words but she is hanging with me. She wiggles in her car seat as we "do the hokie pokie and we turn ourselves around" and she does the little clap too. I was so stoked. Heck yeah, my niece knows the hokie pokie. So, I'm thinking "it's on - we are so doing the hokie pokie when we get to their house." But it wasn't meant to be. The 6 year old was sleepy and didn't want to play and well the 2 year old is just that. The Hokie Pokie was old news and she had moved on to Uniqua, Pablo, Tyrone and the other Backyardigans. Needless to say I went home disappointed.

I realized later why that was important to me. My mother did those things with me and when I was probably 3-7 years old I thought it was so cool. I thought about my own mortality and what place or mark I would leave in the minds and hearts of those two little girls. I want all of their memories of me to be positive ones. Ones that when they are 37 and 33 they can say "Do you remember that Sunday afternoon watching Aunt Sheronda trying to teach Simon Says or the Hokie Pokie or Ms. Mary Mack?" (We have worked on all of those activities). My mother taught all of us the importance of personal responsibility and accountability. If you did something wrong own it and do what you can to make it right. I watch my brother trying to teach his girls that lesson. My mother and I would bond while she washed my hair Saturday afternoons. She would turn my hair into a mountain and then put a snow cap on top made of the suds from the shampoo. I would always insist on seeing it because I wanted to see how big of a mountain she could make. She would place me in front of the mirror and we would just giggle at how silly I looked. There is a picture at my mother's house of me and three of my four brothers (Kenny, Chris and Barry) along with my mom. You can see our dinky stereo system in the background and she was likely playing Stevie Wonder's "Songs in the Key of Life" album and we are dancing. She loved to dance and we would often dance with her. My mother has NO rhythm to speak of but again it's okay because it didn't matter we were all together and having a great time. My brother Brian was taking the picture.

These are the things I hope to teach my own children or if not my own then all of the children I come in contact with. Don't sweat the small stuff and enjoy being silly. Who cares if anybody is looking and if they are, they probably want to join in on the fun. If I'm blessed to see my nieces get married I promise I will make them do the hokie pokie with me.

Yiddish

I have a very good friend whom I adore. For some reason he thinks I'm pretty knowledgeable. I guess I can bullspit enough I suppose. He is very bright and witty. He loves the Marx Brothers and apparently Mel Brooks movies. I love Mel Brooks' movies as well. Blazing Saddles is a classic. But I digress.


A couple of weeks ago, he called me. It wasn't quite a drunk dial but I could tell he had a few drinks before calling me. He tends to call me from weird locations. This time it was a bar in South Joisey. So I make the declaration during our conversation that I'm going to teach myself how to speak Yiddish. Not only would I teach myself, I would try to impress him when he comes to NC in May by incorporating the words in a conversation. I was born and raised in NC. An African-American southern Baptist girl. Needless to say, my tongue doesn't work to well with trying to pronounce some of these words. I'm pretty sure he is going to laugh at me, not because of what I say but how I say it. A Yiddish Southern drawl has to be just a touch odd. It's a work in progress though.