My mom, the stalker

One of the scary things that happens when you get older, is you realize that you're slowly becoming your mother. It might be scary to some people, certainly not everybody. The thing that scares me about becoming my mother is that my sex talk with my children will consist of me telling them to pray to the virgin Mary if they get urges. Or that I go to work to escape my children. You know, fun things like that.

My mom isn't a total stick in the mud. She and my dad were pretty cool about me living with two guys and a girl in college. They trusted me enough to not worry about me because most of my closest friends were male. And they didn't freak out over co-ed sleep overs (hmm, did I tell them they were co-ed? I don't remember). Yes, there was a lot of exaggerating and padding and Oscar-worthy performances on my part too to cover my butt. They were cool about some things and they were cool about some things that I lied to them about.

So you can imagine how I felt when I realized there are some things my mom does that I do and I couldn't imagine her doing. She once called me from work because she was bored. She said she didn't have any patients, her boss was out and she didn't feel like doing any paperwork. So she called me to chat. I was shocked because when I was a kid and I'd call my mom at work, she'd tell me she couldn't take any personal phone calls because she was busy. Whenever I don't have a lot of work, I surf the Web. Heck, I'll surf even when I have a lot of work, but I never imagined my mom being a bit lazy like me.

She called me yesterday, not because she was bored, but because she wanted me to get information on a house via the appraisal district site. Some old guy died recently and his adult children gave the church his furniture. My mom did a little digging, cross referenced names and addresses with the phone book and drove by the house. She gave me the address and name and I gave her the information she needed. Was I concerned that my mom wants to take advantage of these people's grief and get a deal on the property? Not really. But I was concerned that my mom did the whole stalking thing that my friends and I used to do with guys we thought were cute (and now with former crushes and girls we hated).

I think it's one of those chicken or egg questions. Have I always been like my mother or did my mom pick up some things from me? I know she picks up cliches and tacky phrases from my sister, but have I been able to contribute anything useful other than baking tips she ultimately forgets? Or did she pick up some of these things from her friends, who happen to be my friends' moms? Was I rebelling against myself when I rebelled against my mother?

If I found out my grandmother and I were alike, that wouldn't bother me. My grandmother is funny, independent and strong. But if we're like our moms, that would mean my mom is like her mom and my that mom is funny, independent and strong. And if we're alike, she's already had breakfast at work, chatted with her co-workers about Heroes and is just now thinking about getting started on work.