In honor of Mother’s Day I’m currently watching The Emperor’s New Groove. Fantastic
movie, and one my mother loves as well. I initially turned it on because it
reminds me of her. We’ve watched it multiple times. Once even in French
actually, which is why we now randomly yell DÉMON LAMA at each other. As I’m
watching it today though, I realize there are actually a lot of similarities
between the movie and my family. Thus I’m going to extol my fabulous mother
through a series of quotes from The Emperor’s
New Groove.
“Um, what's with the chimp and
the bug? Can we get back to *me*?”
-Kuzco
This
was a new, shocking realization to me, but I’m basically the Emperor Kuzco of
my family. I’m not entirely a tyrant. Certainly my parents were parents and the ones with authority,
but otherwise they’ve always been really good about keeping me happy.
My
mother once told me she thought in one of my past lives I was an Egyptian
princess. Every girl wants to be a princess, so of course I was flattered, but
she wasn’t referring to my royal good looks and manners, but more so my
expectation that everything is always going to be done my way. For years, my
family was stuck with eating at about the same 10 restaurants since I had such
limited tastes. I’m always the person in the front seat of the car. Even now, when I call my mom I expect her to
first listen to my stories and problems before giving her a chance to vent.
Dear, sweet woman that she is, she has always made her children the priority; I
just took the idea to the extreme.
“I'm
the Emperor, and as such, I'm born with an innate sense of direction. Okay,
where am I?”
-Kuzco
Another
one of my many faults (just a side note, I swear I have a lot of really super
great awesome traits as well, it just so happens all the bad ones keep getting
mentioned) is that I’ve always had a bit of an independent streak. Not sure why
exactly, but I cannot stand to ask people to do things for me. I’d rather go
off on my own and figure it out. Of course, I don’t always succeed at that.
My
mother has spent years bailing me out of situations when my own attempts fail.
When I was little, I decided instead of brushing the snarls out of my hair, I’d
cut them out. Then there was the time I was viciously attacked by a large
spider and sprayed it with some sort of bleach mixture instead of waiting for
my mother to get home. Did I mention the spider was on the newly painted red
wall? Oh and let’s not forget when I woke up sick and decided to go to work
anyway. It took about five minutes for me to collapse, but my mother was quick
on the spot to take me home and tuck me in bed.
“Oh,
look. A golden-throated small-winged warbler. Just one more for exotic bird
bingo. I am loving this!”
-Kronk
 |
| Random fun moment: bundling the mother |
If
I’m Emperor Kuzco, then my mother is a combination of Kronk and Pacha. She’s
definitely more Pacha, but I have to throw Kronk in because my mother and Kronk
share the same easy going, easily amused personality. My mother can find the
fun in any situation. She has a child’s sense of wonder and amusement. Imagine
growing up with a woman like that. No wonder I have such a large creative
streak!
And
just like Kronk, when things go wrong my mother brushes it off with a “yeah,
weird.” She accepts the crazy situations my brother and I create. She rolls with
my dad’s last minute plans. When confronted with chaos, she shrugs and then
finds the silver lining. It makes it easy for anyone to go to her with their
problems, knowing she’s not going to judge, just find a way to make it better.
“Our
moment of triumph approaches! Ha ha ha ha ha! It's dinner time!”
-Yzma
Yzma
actually says this line, but I like thinking of it the same way Kronk does…
referring to food (not their plot to murder Kuzco). Just like Kronk, my mother
is a terrific cook. Now the poor woman had to limit her culinary exploration
for years due to my picky eater habits, but she has always used food as a way
to care for the world. She cooks for her family, she takes meals to friends.
She volunteers through church to cook for various benefits. When my brother or
I used to have friends over, she would stay up late cooking an assortment of
treats for a horde of hungry teenagers. When my father works nights, she cooks
“lunch” to take in to everyone around midnight.
My
mother expresses love through food, and we are very fortunate with the lots of
lovin’ coming our way.
Pacha: I knew it.
Kuzco: Knew what?
Pacha: That there is some good in you, after all.
My mother is the Pacha to my Kuzco.
She’s the voice of reason, the one that makes things happen. Just like Pacha,
she’s also a genuinely good person. She truly believes in the good in everyone.
She’s always willing to help, no matter who needs it and what that person might
have done to her in the past. She cares about her family, and her village, and
always does what’s best for them regardless of what it might mean for her
welfare.
And like Pacha, she waves off the
credit. She doesn’t think it’s a big deal, and she never expects to be thanked.
So this is why I decided to write about my mother using one of our favorite
movies.
Do not mistake this for some sort of
obligatory mother’s day post. Oh no. My mother has never expected much (or
really gotten much) in the way of thanks, but I decided this was my chance to
throw a little credit her way. After all, I wouldn’t be the neek I am today
without her.
So thank you, Mom! Because as they sing in Emperor’s New Groove, “a perfect world
begins and ends with US!”
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