why don't you...

my mom wishes my old company would hire me again.

"why don't you work there again?" "mom...i don't want to go backwards, i want to go forwards."

even after it's been almost four years since my first job, she still brings that company up too.

"why don't you go back to them?" "i left, remember? i don't want to work there."

it's not as bad as it used to be, but when i was younger, it was almost incessant.

"why don't you be a teacher? or a pharmacist?" (these were considered appropriate professions for women, in her eyes).

"why don't you study this subject instead of majoring in that?" (i.e., something practical vs. useless subjects like english and history?)

"why don't you buy nice clothes?"

"why don't you go to grad school?"

"why don't you play piano at church?"

i know she just wants what's best for me, and these are all the opportunities she would have liked to have had growing up. in another universe she probably would have been a teacher, gone to museums and operas all the time and played several instruments (or maybe just piano). instead she became a nurse, stayed in la and passed up a chance to go to grad school in new york, met my dad and went with him on his crazy hunting trips in the mountains and paid for 13 years of piano lessons which her ungrateful daughter doesn't even use.

at least one dream is finally coming true. after some prodding, at age 63, she's learning how to play piano.