Mom, Who Are THEY Anyway?

I spoke with my mom via Skype this morning and let me tell you every time we do that, it is a new adventure - I swear! Sometimes I think she just likes being able to see my face and her face simultaneously on the screen. She tends to like to make faces at me and start pretending to do sign language into the computer when I'm trying to be serious! At times extremely frustrating, but more often than not it is my favorite time of the week.

I wish I could post the picture that I snapped of her during our hour long conversation today; but I'm fairly certain if I did that, my monthly care package full of American goodies would mysteriously just stop showing up at my doorstep. So in an effort to keep the peace I will move on with my post.

Each time we Skype it's always the same general routine of questions and each set of questions seems to be lumped into different periods. We start out by figuring out what time zone the other person is, followed by who from the family is present at both locations and then the conversation begins to flow into the following categories:

The first is the 'General Well-Being' portion of our Skype dates,

"Are you eating enough?"

'Yes mom, I've gained at least 2 kilos in Tim Tams alone - I'm fine'

"Are you drinking enough milk?"

'I put at least a cup in my Sultana Bran every morning'

"Do you have a cough?"

'A little I guess'

"It sounds like you have a cough?!"

'Yea, I have a sore throat and a little congested, but that's all'

"Have you gone to the doctor to see about that cough? I hear Australia has had a lot of Swine Flu cases - have you checked to see if you have Swine Flu?"

'No mom I'll be fine - if I still feel sick on Monday I'll look into it!'

......and then we move into "Friends and family gossip" followed by "Guess if I'm really frozen on your screen" and then into, my all time favorite part of our conversations, the "THEY SAID" portion.

The "They Said" chapter of our chats is the time where my mother likes to 'slyly' interject some tidbits of information that she has picked up over the past 7 days. This information is taken from conversations she's had with co-workers, relatives, friends and what I can only assume to be the highly educated biker crew of .80 cent beer night at The Moose Country; about different things going on in my life that she isn't 100% on board with and is looking for someone to back her up.

Let me give you an example.

As you all know, I have recently booked a 10-day trip to Bali, Indonesia. Not the world's safest place to visit, but definitely not even close to the most dangerous. The pro's outweigh the con's any day of the week! However, ever since booking the trip my mother has been on edge about me traveling there on my own. So during the 'They Said' portion of the conversation she brings up some of the following points:

"Well, you know that they say that Bali is no place for you to be traveling alone and that terrorists bomb there ALL the time. What do you know about that?"

"I was at work yesterday talking with a group of friends and they said that Indonesia just had an earthquake that killed hundreds and what if you are there and another earthquake hits and you die? Did you think about that?"

"I left Church last week and they said that you need another visa to go there and that you should look at your Australian visa to see if you can even get back in. They said that you could get stuck in Denpasar Airport if you don't have the right papers - have you looked into that?"

......They said......

AAGGGHHHH

WHO IS IT SPECIFICALLY THAT YOU ARE REFERRING TO WHEN YOU SAY THEY?? Who are these people and why are they putting these outlandish and occasionally irrational fears into your head!!??

So today somewhere after the 'They Said' segment, but before the 'Shut Your Eyes' portion, it was pointed out to me that I am currently suffering from a disease my mother likes to call, 'The Invincibility Of Your Twenties Syndrome'. Apparently it affects people in their early to mid twenties, who believe that they are invincible and cannot be hurt or touched by anything - no matter where or what they are doing in the world.

Now, clearly my mother has grossly misdiagnosed me with this syndrome and I understand the worry of seeing your only daughter run off to a foreign country on her own for 10 days, BUT to lump me into a group with the other crazies of my generation is just plain rude.

Do you or someone you know feel that you are being misdiagnosed with this syndrome, as I feel that I am, and what did you do to fix that perception in the eyes of your family?