Quote of the Day (Erma Bombeck, on Kids’ Uncanny Sense Around a Kitchen)

“Kids were equipped with radar long before it went commercial. They knew when there were bananas hidden behind the popcorn popper in the pantry. They knew when there was a candy bar in the meat keeper in the refrigerator. It was not possible for a leftover piece of pie to survive a child in search of breakfast. When a dish rattled, they heard it, no matter where they were.”— American humorist Erma Bombeck (1927-1996), Forever, Erma: Best-Loved Writing From America's Favorite Humorist (1996)

Quote of the Day (Erma Bombeck, on Family and ‘The Common Thread That Bound Us All Together’)

“The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another's desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together.” —American humorist Erma Bombeck (1927-1996), Family: The Ties That Bind…and Gag! (1976)

She is known best for the humor she brought to her syndicated newspaper column over three decades and to her Good Morning America TV segments for 11 years in the Seventies and Eighties. But Erma Bombeck—who died 25 years ago today of complications from a kidney transplant—sought, at the most basic level, to convey the truth of domestic life she lived as wife and mother, as seen in the above quote.

At the time of her passing, I’m sure many readers thought of another quote of hers—and writers particularly probably should have been struck by it: “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me.’”

Quote of the Day (Erma Bombeck, on What Happens When a Mother Sits for a Moment)

“I have studied the phenomenon of the mother who sits down for a moment to get off her feet. From all I've been able to gather, a message goes out over an invisible network that flashes to the world ‘Mother is in a sitting position. Proceed and de-sit.’

"At that moment the doorbell will ring, children will appear holding vital parts of their anatomy, the dog will dig his paws insistently into a leg, a husband will call impatiently for help, a phone will register its fifteenth ring, a pot will boil over, a buzzer will sound, or faucets will go on all over the house, and a loud voice will shriek, ‘I'm telling.’”—American humor columnist Erma Bombeck (1927-1996), Aunt Erma’s Cope Book: How To Get From Monday To Friday . . . In 12 Days (1979)

Quote of the Day (Erma Bombeck, With a Tried-and-True Method of Dealing with Kids)

"When my kids become wild and unruly, I use a nice, safe playpen. When they're finished, I climb out."—Attributed to Erma Bombeck (1927-1996)

A Thanksgiving Day Reflection As You Prepare the Food and Watch the Games

“Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence.”—Erma Bombeck