Interplay and a memory of my mother

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I'm reading a book called "What the Body Wants," written by the founder of Interplay. There's one little paragraph that brought back a memory for me.

She writes about her middle-school daughter who complained about the way she, the author and mother, woke her up every morning for school. "Mom, could you cool it with the sing-song?" Apparently the mother/author knocked on her daughter's door and said, "Wake uuuuuuup. It's time for schoooooool." Her point was that the body knows its rhythms and what works best for it as it awakens from sleep.

I remembered how my sister and I once got together and decided we were going to confront our mom about the way she woke us up--which was basically with a screech: "Get up! It's time for school!" We went into her room and said we needed to talk to her. (I can only imagine where her mind went at that point.) We said, "Mom, could you please try to wake us up more gently, without the yelling every morning?"

To her wonderful credit, she changed and did as we asked.

I don't think it was difficult work waking up my sister and me in the mornings. We were both pretty good about things like that. So I have to wonder, sadly, why my mother chose to yell like that. Chances are good that she was waking up with a heavy heart.

Comments

Jan said…
You and your sister were brave to ask that of your mother. And she changed!

I am seeing my parents with much more perspective as I age. Myself, too.

I met a minister at Shalem who is very involved with Interplay. Are you?
April 21, 2008 at 7:34 AM
Katherine E. said…
No, Jan, I'm just now kind of investigating it. It appeals to me--Well, I should say it dares me to face some of my embodiment issues. I'm afraid of it. But I'm meeting with a teacher/friend who is very much an Interplay person, so we'll see where that goes.
April 21, 2008 at 6:47 PM
Jennifer said…
What a thoughtful post.
Thanks, Katherine, for this post and for your note.
April 21, 2008 at 8:04 PM
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