Quote of the Day (Keira Knightley, on Motherhood)

“Birth is just the beginning of it…. Then the sleep deprivation, and the sleep deprivation when your body is ripped to pieces and you're still trying to heal. And you've got a small being that is entirely reliant on you. And we live in a society where you're meant to pretend that you're able to do that, and you're fine, and you're on top of it."—Actress Keira Knightley, quoted in Emma Jacobs, “Fame. Tricky Thing to Navigate,” The Financial Times, Mar. 7-8, 2020

Childbirth alone, the actress says, is “what no man can in any way physically understand, can comprehend in any physical way, or emotional way, or hormonal way. And it's stories that we don't tell. Partly because our storytellers are men.” Being a first-time mom, she concludes, is “difficult and wonderful.”

Thanks to her—and the other mothers out there—for enduring this “difficult and wonderful” process. Let’s hope that more of you will tell your stories.

Oh, yes—and Happy Mother’s Day!

(The photo of Ms. Knightley was taken at the Anna Karenina World Premiere in London, Sept. 4, 2012, by Paul Bird. The source is Ms. Knightley.)

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)

Tweet of the Day (‘Wendy S.,’ on Her Little Girl’s School Assignment)

 “My six year old's school assignment was to draw a challenge she thought she could overcome. So she drew herself teaching me how to use the TV remote.”—“Midwest Minivan Mom” Wendy S. (@maughammon) on Twitter, quoted in “Life in These United States,” Reader’s Digest, September 2017

I can relate!

Quote of the Day (Carol Burnett, on Giving Birth)

"Giving birth is like taking your lower lip and forcing it over your head." – Comedienne Carol Burnett, “Timeless Laughs With Carol Burnett,” Reader’s Digest, October 2012

(The accompanying White House photo by Paul Morse shows Carol Burnett receiving the Presidential Media of Freedom, November 9, 2005)

TV Quote of the Day (‘The Big Bang Theory,’ on Coping With a Boy Genius)

Mary Cooper (played by Laurie Metcalf): “Leonard, the Lord never gives us more than we can handle. Luckily He blessed me with two other children who are as dumb as soup.”—Dr. Sheldon Cooper’s born-again mother, explaining to Sheldon’s friend Leonard Hofstadter how she manages to cope with her intellectually superior but socially maladjusted son, in The Big Bang Theory, Season 1, Episode 4, “The Luminous Fish Effect,” teleplay by David Litt and Lee Aronsohn, directed by Mark Cendrowski, original air date October 15, 2007

TV Quote of the Day (‘The Big Bang Theory,’ on the Jar-Jar Binks of the Hofstadters)

(The friends have been talking about Leonard Hofstadter’s family—including his intimidatingly brilliant professor mother.)

Sheldon Cooper (played by Jim Parsons): “Leonard, I had no idea your siblings were so much more successful than you.”

Raj Koothrappali (played by Kunal Nayyar): “Yeah, you're like the Jar-Jar Binks of the Hofstadter family.”

Howard Wolowitz (played by Simon Helberg): [Imitating Jar-jar] “Oh, meesa think yousa lookin' so-so sad.”

Leonard Hofstadter (played by Johnny Galecki): “You know, rather than mock me, my friends might realize that this is difficult and try to help me through it.”

Raj: “Nope, I think mocking you is more fun.”

Howard: [imitating JarJar] “Next time, don't yousa bring momma to work, Okee-day?”

[Raj and Howard laugh]

Leonard: [Leonard's mother, Beverly—played by Christine Baranski--comes back from a visit to the bathroom.] “That was fast.”…

Beverly: “So where were we?”

Leonard: [to his mother] “Howard lives with his mother, and Raj can't speak to women unless he's drunk. Go!”

Beverly: “Well, that's fascinating. Selective mutism is quite rare. On the other hand, an adult Jewish male living with his mother is so common it borders on sociological cliché.”

Howard [sheepishly]: “It's just temporary, I pay rent.”

Leonard: “He lives in the same room where his bassinet was.”

Beverly: “You know, both selective mutism and an inability to separate from one's mother can stem from a pathological fear of women. It might explain why the two of you have created an ersatz homosexual marriage to satisfy your need for intimacy.”

Howard: “Say what?”

[Raj whispers in Howard's ear]

Howard: “That's basically what I just said!”

Leonard: [to Raj] “You brought your husband to work, you know the rules.[imitating JarJar.] Meesa thinkin' yousa lookin' pretty sad now too, betcha betcha.”—The Big Bang Theory, Season 2, Episode 15, “The Maternal Capacitance,” air date February 9, 2009, story by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, teleplay by Richard Rosenstock and Steven Molaro, directed by Mark Cendrowski