Mumsaid

I just got back from a weekend yoga retreat in Golconda, Illinois. (More info on that below. Great place.) My darling Sarah and I were the "pregnant girls" in the group. All weekend I felt high as a kite and yet was as sober as can be. It was fabulous. A yoga class and cookout on Friday, two yoga classes, one circle gathering, one philosophy class and a yoga nidra class on Saturday, one yoga class and one circle gathering on Sunday, fabulous meals, Christian Icons all over the place, Kentucky farmland across the Ohio River right outside my back door...it's no wonder that I am crashing upon my arrival home. I was snotty to my husband on the phone, snotty to my husband about the chaotic state of our home, and snotty to my husband while he baked us bread, grilled chicken to last a week, and grilled veggies. Why? What has happened? Where did the Om go? I was so certain that everything I was experiencing was "authentic" and everyone I came in contact with was ...

When I was very young, there was a phrase we used to mean, "You had better listen and obey, because Mom told you to." If a statement was preceded by "Mumsaid," it was immediately turned into a directive. For example, "Mumsaid to go change the laundry." That implied that the laundry was to be changed from washer to dryer, a new load started, and the clean clothes brought upstairs immediately. If you questioned any direction and heard "Mumsaid" as your answer, no further explanation was given or necessary...that word was Law. Self: "Why should I go change the laundry? I am reading/playing/drawing/watching TV." Sibling (usually older): "Mumsaid." Self: "Awwww....but I don't want..." Sibling: "Mum said ." Self: "Fine." And Self stomps downstairs to complete the chore, mimicking the sibling saying the Law. As the youngest, it was with pure spite that I enforced the "Mumsaid Law." Ord...