Respect your Elders

I'll be the first one to admit that I've said, "My parents don't know anything."

I believe I've said it thousands of times when I was between the ages of 3 until about 22. I always thought I knew it all. Because in my head I did. Any advice my parents gave me wasn't right because "they don't know what they are talking about."

Well.

I'm taking back that.

I'm pretty sure my parents know everything. And, I'm going to share some wise words according to my dad, Greg.

Growing up, he was infamous for his talks and "isms" and I'll now share his words of wisdom with all of you. These are sayings my brother and I have grown up hearing, rolling our eyes at, laughing at and probably will repeat to our kids at some point, if we ever have them.

Greg-isms:

"Allison, I've forgotten more than you'll ever know."
(This was normally used after my brother and I would try to argue with him about some random topic and how we were right.)

"You can't fool me. I've done more delinquent things than I can remember."
(This was often said after my brother or I would lie about if there was or wasn't alcohol at our high school parties while trying to explain we looked like hell and had been up all night. As a child of the 70s, he ensured us that he did more delinquent acts than both of us combined would do over our lifetimes.)

"Control the things you can control in life."
(Normally said if one of us was bitching about something that we couldn't change related to grades, coaches or referees. He was a basketball referee for years.)

"Don't ask me 'why' questions. I can't answer those."
(Also related to if we were whining about something that didn't go our way.)

"If ifs where fifths, we'd all be drunk."
(Both of us still have no clue what this has to do with anything, but he often says it to us. We are still scratching our heads on this one.)

So, on this random Wednesday in March, let's call our parents and say to them what they have always wanted to hear, "Mom and Dad, you were right.....Can I have $50?"