The Cat in the Hat

"I thought of a page in Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat, one that comes near the end.

"Sally and I" have been standing by helplessly while the hatted Cat, with his Thing One and Thing Two, made havoc of the house. The toy boat is in the cake and the cake is on the floor, the rake is bent and mother's new dress has gone sailing through the room on a kite string. The fish has been trying to warn us, but we chose not to listen.

And then, through the window, we see her. There is a flash of red skirt and a leg striding into view, terminating with a high-heel pump with a bow.

"Then our fish said, 'LOOK! LOOK!' And our fish shook with fear. 'Your mother is on her way home! Do you hear? Oh, what will she do to us? What will she say? Oh, she will not like it to find us this way!'"

This is the crisis point of the plot, as you probably remember.

I remember feeling so relieved! I wanted that Mom to walk in and take control. I felt for those silly kids. They NEVER should have let the cat in. They should have been more assertive, called their Mom, or, at the very least, left the house and fetched a grown up neighbor to help!!

I have come to treasure the way my parents raised me.
If (when) I made a terrible mess of things, I thanked God I had a Mom I could talk to.