Out-doing mom and dad

[Izzy]

When I was little mom was the bestest singer EVER and no one could possibly make better beef stew than grandma. No dad, I sort of have two mommies.

 

I want to know what skill you've acquired (possibly from your 'rents) that your mom, dad (or whoever raised you) was awesome at before you took their crown.

 

Are your ribs more delicious than mom's? Are your guitar chops better than dad's?

I think it's cathartic when they give it up and say, "kid, you've topped me."

 

Also, what will you never be able to do as well as either of your 'rents?

 

For me:

My mom can dance, run backwards and forwards and is the most graceful creature in HEELS.

I can't even stand in a pair of heels, or my set would be up in five minutes *cough

I have the grace of a truck driver *tear

 

Mom told me I'm more committed to music than she was, even though she did it for a living.

She prefers the way I sing and she can't play guitar as well. She never played publicly.

[slashadler]

Definitely the BBQ. I am now the master at the BBQ since I took over for my dad. Also hitting in hockey. Last season I sent 7 people to the hospital with broken bones. (and they were all clean hits, I don't believe in dirty hits.)

[DAS44]

I make some kicka$$ pancakes. <chuckle>

[Duende]

I am very limited in my food repertoire but like my mum, can make nice pasta sauces, pizzas and sandwiches LOL. I also enjoy making Mexican enchaladas for people[biggrin]

enjoy filling peoples glasses up continually with wine when they come around and try my best to make sure they are happier when they leave than when they first arrived.

 

Matt

[swleary]

In heirted from my mom....hmmm. I can cook most dishes better than my mother. She dries and over cooks everything lol. I think I learned a lot about barbecuing from my step father. I can still make a better steak than him.

 

I learned from my real father, driving. I drove transport trucks for a few years in honor of him. He taught me about being patient with others.

[sjl200]

My mom instilled in me the love of music and art, taught me how to cook and sew...which helped me impress a girl who now is my wonderful wife of 34 years so in a sense mom helped me find all the important loves of my life....Dad gave me the courage to recognize and pursue those very things in life that matter...I was very fourtunate......

[Duende]

My mum has always said there is a little bit of bad in the best of us and a little bit of good in the worst of us. I typed it in google and I got this...(lying vixen pretending she thought of it[biggrin] )

 

There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, that it ill behooves any of us to find fault with the rest of us.

 

I love my mama

 

Matt

[Izzy]

Anything you still have not managed to out-do the rents in?

 

I think for some of us of MY generation, it might be the career liftoff.

People who came from lower middle class homes might not have been facing the hardship of old, but they understood what it was to maybe not make it. I think those of us who grew up blessed lost the drive that made our parents wealthier than our grandparents.

 

I'm probably speaking to a small segment of the population anyways. USA Generation X-Y kids.

[slashadler]

Anything you still have not managed to out-do the rents in?

 

I think for some of us of MY generation' date=' it might be the career liftoff.

People who came from lower middle class homes might not have been facing the hardship of old, but they understood what it was to maybe not make it. I think those of us who grew up blessed lost the drive that made our parents wealthier than our grandparents.

 

I'm probably speaking to a small segment of the population anyways. USA Generation X-Y kids.[/quote']

 

I can't beat my dad at golf.

[charlie brown]

My Mom and Dad were part of "The Greatest Generation," (And, I truly think it was)...they're both gone, now.

But, I've always been amazed, at their humanity, empathy, patience, and Class! They might have been "middle

class," technically, but they could get along, very well, with all segments of society. I've always admired that

quality, in them. I have my Mother's reserve, and my Dad's "wanting" to understand, and get along, with people,

as much as possible. I'm not as good at that, however, as HE was. And...not as smart, as my Mom was. She

was an artist (painter), a photographer, and a writer, as well. I used to have the most interesting conversations,

with her. She was a real inspiration, not only to me, but to everyone that knew her. Dad was the kind, that

never met a "stranger." He could always find something to talk about, or relate to, with almost anyone.

So...I miss them, and their friends, too. Most (not all), "Baby Boomers" on...have had it "Dead easy," compared to

what that generation (and those before) had to deal with, on a daily basis. There's always exceptions, of

course...but, I'm in awe of them. All sentimentality aside..."Better than them?"...Never!

 

CB

[Shnate McDuanus]

My parents tend to hold the belief that I'm more articulate than either of them--and that's not a statement I'm prepared to argue against.

 

I can also bench more weight than my dad can at this point in his life, but that's because I've been working at it and he hasn't.

 

I loves my parents. They're both great people--I'm sure they'd be happy to see that I wrote that.

[jefleppard]

izzy et al... i'm really impressed by younger people that talk lovingly and respectfully about their parents. you're setting a great example. keep it up.

[djroge1]

Neither of my parents went to college and I have... and actually graduated whoo hooo.

 

Mom was the greatest cook for comfort food - Chicken-n-dumplings, mashed potatoes type stuff.

I've become better at other food; stuff she would call fancy dishes like grilled talipa with lemon butter creme sauce, south western rolls (like you might find on the appetizer list at Chili's grill).

[jaxson50]

I was very lucky. My great grandfather (on my mothers side) died when I was 19, he was born in 1875, he was a veteran of the Spanish American War and a journalist who reported on WWI and WWII. He was in Russia reporting on WWI when the Russian Revolution started, he saw history as few people ever do. I spent many hours hearing him tell his tales about life and the things he had witnessed.

My grandfather (on my fathers side) was born in 1881, died when I was 11. His father brought the family west on the Oregon Trail when my grandfather was 8, grandpa walked the entire trail.

Can you imagine how tuff these people were?

My dad taught me to hunt and fish and to camp and play guitar. He was a WWII and Korean War vet and a policeman and one heck of a cowboy. I wish I could handle horse as well as he did, I play guitar better then he did, but he had a better voice.

My mom was a great cook, and very creative.She was a high school drop out who started working in 1952 as a file clerk for a insurance company, by 1965 she was Vice President of a insurance company in Palm Springs, her client list included Harpo Marx and Red Skelton. They both grew up during the Great Depression and came of age during WWII, I will never have the drive they had, as I never knew the fear they knew.

[Izzy]

Damn! Jax, that's incredible.

Hard to top parents and grandparents like that o.o

[jaxson50]

izzy et al... i'm really impressed by younger people that talk lovingly and respectfully about their parents. you're setting a great example. keep it up.

Took the words out of my mouth!

[jaxson50]

Damn! Jax' date=' that's incredible.

Hard to top parents and grandparents like that o.o

 

[/quote']

Izzy,

I gave up on that years ago! When my great grandfather died he left behind a 60K word manuscript entitled "Metaphysical Changes in Form". Yes it is as dry as it sounds, but he really was a hoot!

God knows how many world leaders he knew, but we know from his collection of letters he knew many, one very surprising letter was from Nikita Khrushchev who he knew from WWII.

[milod]

Yeah, Jax.... your tales are hard to top at a minimum.

 

My one Grandpa born '73 - used to say his first memories were of his brother loading for his widowed Mom when they were under attack by Indians. That's not a joke. He started adulthood as an itinerant horse trader. Never learned to drive a car. Married, had kids and died a farmer. Grandma was a great pistol shot and a good cook.

 

Their oldest daughter, my Mother, taught me the tale of the mothers of Sparta telling their sons to come home with their shields or on them, what that meant - and that if I ran away from a certain bully I'd wish he had beaten me up if she heard about it. <grin> I didn't run. Also got me reading Cooper's Leatherstocking tales that got me in big trouble more than once when I'd disappear after school until 10-midnight. <grin>

 

She was also a fencer, a fine soprano, an English lit and Spanish teacher and a decent enough shot. Not all that hot a cook. Also loved history and injected that into my head. Had her own motorcycle dealership at one point.

 

After she left the earth after a car wreck, Dad remarried a very nice lady I now call "Mom" - hey, after 48 years, she deserves the title - and she's a really good cook. But... that same year Dad also headed to grad school and I left home two weeks after my 16th birthday.

 

Dad? Car and Harley dealer, his own chief mechanic, masters in philosophy, fencer, shooter, reserve police officer and clergyman. Wrote a bit on occasion.

 

I pick guitar better than my Dad by far; he sang a lot better. I was the better fencer. He credited me with teaching some martial arts stuff when he was taking police training, but he was by far the better mechanic and rider - and was far more knowledgeable in philosophy and even taught a college course or two. (I never could get into A.N. Whitehead, either.) I cook probably as well as Mom #1, but when she had a friend dying of cancer she ensured I knew cooking and sewing too. It came in handy.

 

Both parents had multiple degrees. I was too stupid to get any. I'm just a grouchy old country newspaperman, photographer of sorts, college dropout, sometime picker for money, sometime living historian, sometime teacher of various martial arts skills - and sometimes writing non-newspaper stuff.

 

And Jax - you're right about Izzy.

 

m

[drumrnmuzik]

Great post Izzy, congrat's. (don't feel too bad, I can't stand in heels either :) )

 

My mom and dad were both from the great generation also. My mom taught me to respect people and to try to see things from their point of view. She also taught me self estime and self sufficiency.

 

My dad taught me to stay the hell out of his way.

 

Unfortunatly my mom died when I was 15 so I got out of the house as soon as possible. Later, much later, my dad started to tell me that I was a fine young man and he was proud of me.

 

Now that my dad is 84 I'm not so scared of him, we've passed from being two bulls in the same pen to being respectful of each other. Now we're at the point where we can relax around each other and actually open up quite a bit. At heart he's a good man and always provided for his family.

 

The only thing that I do better then them, is mechanical work. I've worked my way up to corporate engineering mgr. (without a degree)

[Izzy]

Both parents had multiple degrees. I was too stupid to get any. I'm just a grouchy old country newspaperman' date=' photographer of sorts, college dropout, sometime picker for money, sometime living historian, sometime teacher of various martial arts skills - and sometimes writing non-newspaper stuff.

 

m

[/quote']

 

Call me crazy but there are certain degrees that just don't seem worth getting.

My boyfriend has a creative writing degree. I write every day (fiction, just to keep the mind sharp), he never does. His mom has a literature degree and she always furrows her eyebrows when she realizes I've read every thing she has and more. Sure, you can't teach yourself to be a plastic surgeon, but, as exemplified by drum, you can work your way up with experience in fields that you'd reckon require classroom time...experience seems more interesting and valuable to me than a piece of paper that says, "this monkey is trainable."

 

I knew this thread would be fun. Didn't expect it to be this insightful. Thank you for sharing, guys.

[Hector Arcadius]

My parents taught me that I should respect every other human being, regardless of social placement, money he makes, ;olitical beliefs and job he/she does for a living. That everyone is to be respected and that we should always treat others with genuine, kindness, good manners and understanding.

 

My father in particular taught me that we should get to actually learn the true nature and the character of those that are in our family and not to love merely the reflection of ourselves on them or what we wish them / expect them to be. He taught me that the hard way.

 

What I have topped them in? Generally, allthough it may sound arrogant, I believe that I am a more completed and happy person in life. I think that I have discovered sooner than them the true nature of myself, the real me and that makes me a more content person. ''Better'' is such a difficult word to use in here. And I have also accepted more my place in the world. Not in the sense that I have accepted ''my fate'' or anything like that. Only in the sense that I know which are the things that I can change and I know how to pick my fights nowadays.

 

Oh, and I drive so much better than my dad...

[DAS44]

izzy et al... i'm really impressed by younger people that talk lovingly and respectfully about their parents. you're setting a great example. keep it up.

The kids who disrespect their parents or see them as nothing but a source of $ and food sicken me. They dont realize how much they sacrificed for what; a bunch of whining? Not to mention we cost a sh!t load of $. Plus they got me my first guitar.

 

Gotta love em if you have a brain or a heart.

[Duende]

I love Mark Twain's writing about this...

 

"When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years"

 

Matt

[stevef]

Not a chance I could touch my Father's accomplishments. Pardon me while I brag a bit..

My father was born in the slums on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the early 1900s (1st generation born in the US). He was a top notch student. Got accepted to the best medical schools in the US, but in the 20s and 30s the top medical schools were still in Germany. So he went to Germany in the early '30s for medical school. (He went there with 3 or 4 other Jewish students for the education and to try and get their families out of Germany--- Brass-B@lls). He spoke a few languages (I never figured out how many, aside from German, Hebrew, Yiddish, a few Eastern European languages as well as a bit of Romance Languages). Following WWII he worked as a ship's doctor so he could travel to South America and try and hunt down family that may have survived.

As a Physician he was a General Practitioner, with a large and diversified family practice (hence the multi-lingual). His wall of "babies delivered" was just that a friggin' 9'x12' WALL of pictures. Many of the kids on the wall were kids that I grew up with and still see (in many cases he delivered their kids as well). He was a praticing surgeon as well (note: He was born lefthanded. No surgical tools at the time he went to school and started practice were lefthanded, so he trained himself to be righthanded for the job).

Nope I can't touch any of that. I guess the only things I can touch is that he drove like a friggin' madman, I can do that. He was color blind (red and green). He could never handle wiring things with more than black/white/ground, I'm ok with that. No music (except listening to opera), No sports (except he loved watching the Yankees), No sense of humor (he never once laughed at my school report cards). Music and sports were very important to me (scholarship offers for baseball and soccer). His take on my "likes" was "you want to play music and baseball instead of school, then get yourself a job and see if you can pay for school yourself".

His funeral service was SRO with many people in the parking lot outside the building.

My Mom college educated and worked for Marine Aviation at LaGuardia airport during WWII in the weather reporting area. She was, however, a world renowned lousy cook. Grace before her meals were usually prayers for survival. I learned to cook.

[daveinspain]

My mothers makes the best Chilly Con Carne ever!! but mine is better.... I took her recipe and made it better cause I have the secret ingredient.

 

One thing I will never be able to do better than my Mother is make people feel guilty....:-

 

My Dad was a great guy, so I'm told... Too bad he died before we really got to know each other.