there's no doubt about it.

before they even came up with the word, my mom has been parenting like no grupster has ever parent-ed before.

i mean, come on, here's a mom who never forced us, her kids, to eat fish and vegetables growing up. her reason: if she doesn't want to eat them herself, why should she force us to eat the same things?

and, while we did have the usual nursery rhymes on tape and the "alvin and the chipmunks christmas tape", i must admit that our music of choice most of the time consisted of rolling stones and her personal holy week favorite: jesus christ superstar. before there was cable and good things to watch on good friday, she'd sit me and my brother on the sofa, pop her original jesus christ superstar soundtrack on the turntable and sing-along to the music. i must admit that on the third year, my brother and i were singing along with her. so, i guess it's safe to say that even before i memorized anything on sesame street, i already had "what's the buzz, tell me what's happening" down pat.

let's not even go into my mom's non-rules: (1) you can stay on the phone as long as you want so long as no one's expecting an important phone call; (2) just finish college without a hitch and i'll allow you to do anything you want, no questions asked; and (3) you can buy it if you can afford to pay for it.

and, don't forget. before i was ever addicted to shoes, there was my mom, the original.

grupsters - it appears - have been catching some bad flack from some quarters. but, considering that my brother and i, IMHO, turned out to be fine young specimens of human beings (save for the fact that we're both old and still unmarried and living in our parents' house), then i've got nothing bad to say about parents who have decided to keep their identities while parenting their kids.

and, to my mom, who unless some miracle happens and stumbles upon this blog, who won't be able to read this, happy mother's day. i'd like to think that having you as a mom was one of the best things that ever happened in my life.