15 Comments
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Connie Clausen's avatar

V

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Dr. Mardy Grothe's avatar

Didn't get your message, Connie. Want to try again?

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arlene's avatar

I LOVED this week's cartoon!!! And the words of Erich Fromm. I believe that the only thing we as parents are required to do, is to raise our kids up to leave us and deal with life without us..... that's successful parenting..We must let them fail in order to succeed. Thank you Mardy.

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Dr. Mardy Grothe's avatar

Thank YOU, Arlene! As soon as I saw that cartoon, I knew I've be featuring it. And that Fromm quotation has been a personal favorite for many decades.

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dj l's avatar

my mom died after suffering thru 2 yrs of cancer & several surgeries when I was in high school. She was a great mom. All the yrs since (I'm 74 now) I've tried to piece together how I would have known her as an adult, vs just as being her daughter, viewing her as my mom, & as a grandmother to my 3 sons.

As Fromn taught, raising your kids to be independent is success. My kids are. And as a grandparent now to 6 beautiful grandkids, it's a joy watching my kids be parents.

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Dr. Mardy Grothe's avatar

Thanks for sharing your story, dj. I'm sorry you lost your mom at such a young age. What a huge loss. But you appear to have coped most effectively despite it. Happy Mother's Day!

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Patricia Yorton's avatar

Good morning, Mardy! I love your quote the best!

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Dr. Mardy Grothe's avatar

Thanks, Pat. When the thought popped into my mind, I felt it pretty much visually captured the difference between the experiences of motherhood and fatherhood.

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David B.'s avatar

From today's Writer's Almanac:

Anna Jarvis became increasingly concerned over the commercialization of Mother's Day. She said, "I wanted it to be a day of sentiment, not profit." She was against the selling of flowers, and she called greeting cards "a poor excuse for the letter you are too lazy to write." Nevertheless, Mother's Day has become one of the best days of the year for florists. When Anna Jarvis lived the last years of her life in nursing home without a penny to her name, her bills were paid, unbeknownst to her, by the Florist's Exchange.

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Dr. Mardy Grothe's avatar

Thanks for that additional information, David. Most interesting.

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Roger Baron's avatar

Love this week's message! But, I must say Dr. Mardy -- Your original quote about mothers, fathers, and roller coasters and ferris wheels is the absolute best one of all! Love it!! I am preserving it for a future posting on my Facebook profile!

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Dr. Mardy Grothe's avatar

Thanks, Roger, your kind words have made my day!

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Christine Cullen's avatar

Absolutely agree.

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Bruce Bragg's avatar

I also enjoyed your comment this week. Maybe next month on father's day you can flip it around. Just kidding.

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Dr. Mardy Grothe's avatar

Thanks for your wry comment!

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