Phone mum (she knows everything)

I got a phone call one Sunday lunchtime asking how to roast potatoes as he wanted to do lunch for the student house. I described in detail how I did them, best bit was I did not know him from Adam he had clearly rung a wrong number but was so concerned about getting it right that he didn't realise.

Every single time my son (aged 34) goes away I dread the phone call. Years ago on a Uni placement in New York he rang hysterical saying he was lost, I said just jump in a yellow cab he said he couldn’t see any cars ( what - in New York). He did eventually find his way back to lodgings.
He has lost his money in Thailand, his contact lenses in Morocco, twisted his knee in Cambodia, his friend rang me (drunk) one night to say he was lost in Tenerife and not answering phone, he lost the key to an Airbnb in Los Angeles.
He also worked 2 years on cruise ships, initially it was one disaster after another I dreaded all the calls.
My daughter once rang me at work and said don’t panic but her boyfriend had skidded the car , swerved off the road and imbedded car into front of house, she said don’t worry ambulance is on the way. Arghhh.
Finally the worst one was on a hot July weekend me and DH were having a few days in York. Just arrived when hysterical daughter phoned to say her boyfriend was in an explosion at an electricity sub station and he was on his way to QE hospital in Birmingham. We raced the 200 miles home to support her. He had absolutely amazing treatment by army medics at the burns unit at QE hospital. Today you would hardly know he was in an accident.

Just walking in the door after I returned home on the train having been helping DD1 with my first GC and the phone rang. "Mum I have fed him - what do I do now?!"

Same DD (about 200 miles away) rang about the man who had been stalking her, starting with feeling her up on a bus several weeks before - he had been arrested the day before after she was able to contact the police to say he was following her again. She told me that the police had just rung to say they had released him as it was "a first offence." I was beyond angry - they left her vulnerable again after weeks of worry. I cannot tell you how my heart sank.

I had this yesterday when DS 32 rang to say his flight from Valencia had been cancelled due to the ATC problems. EasyJet didn’t have any availability until Sunday and should he use another airline and travel via a European county? Which he is now doing .
My worst was when DD started uni and her friend phoned me to say Dds drink had been spiked and what should she do. I told her to take dd to hospital where they tested her and she’d been given Rohypnol the date rape drug

I had a panic stricken phone call from DD when her husband had left the stairgate open and her 10 month old had fallen down the stairs. Over the phone I told her that no one who was screaming that loud had done any serious damage and certainly didn't sound brain damaged. A quick trip with her to the doctor proved me right. He wasn't even bruised, just frightened. She also rang when he had been screaming all morning for ne apparent reason. Nothing seemed to hurt when he was touched so I suggested it might be an ear infection. Another trip to the doctor, who prodded him all over and then looked in his ears and diagnosed a nasty infection. "That's what Mum said" said my daughter "That's why we have grannies" said the doctor.

My son rang me from school after sitting an exam to say his sight was going. Black patches.
Don't worry I said calmly think you are having a visual migraine which I suffer from.
But go and see Matron.
Can't believe how nonchalant I was about it now.

I used to live 1/2 a mile from my Mum and would often call with...'Mum, silly question' and she always knew the answer.

When we moved 120 miles to help care for my MinL I would ask my FinL instead. A few months later Mum wistfully said she missed her 'silly question calls', so I made a point of doing them until she died - or saved them for when I cared for her in her final years. Even a few days before she died, she brightened and smiled when I asked my silly question about something in her house...she knew the answer too

Younger son, first weekend in student digs. A phone call asking how to get the smell of vomit out of the carpet.

My oldest son once called long distance, worried, to ask me if having blue bowel movements means he has an infection. After a few questions I worked out that it was because he'd been subsisting on ramen noodles and boxes of some kind of cheap cereal with tons of blue sugary thingies in it.

My worst one was when my, then 18 year old, DD called me at 2.30am to tell me that she's had an accident in her car. She'd only been driving about 3 months. She was totally hysterical and I struggled to understand where she was, what exactly had happened, and if she, or anyone else, was hurt. It turned out she'd taken a country bend too fast, had hit some gravel on the roadside and lost control. The car rolled 3 times before stopping on its roof! Luckily, she was only very slightly injured; a bit of gravel rash on her right arm as the side window had smashed as the car rolled and her arm had caught the tarmac briefly. I still shudder to think what could have happened if it had actually been caught outside the car. That's the worst thing she's ever called me up for. She's now a late 30's mother of 3 and she still calls me up to ask for help with any problem she might have; writing official letters, dealing with parking tickets(!), wanting to know how to hang a shelf... During a long and drawn out custody battle for her middle child, I must have spent weeks typing letters and filing out forms! We don't get on very well, never really have, she's always been a daddy's girl (he can do no wrong, I'm the devil incarnate), but it's still always me she calls when she needs help, and I'm always happy to do so.

Son no.1 rang from a police station one evening to say he had been arrested for Burglary on the night before he was due to enrol for Uni. My husband donned his fire uniform and drove to the police station. DS had gone out from drinks with his new flat mates and had become separated from them. On the way home, being very drunk, he had twisted his ankle and become lost. He saw the door of a building open and went inside to see if he could find anyone to help him. When he couldn't, he lay down and went to sleep. When he woke up, he found he was locked in so rang his Mum to ask what to do. She told him to find a fire exit and go home. The next night he was arrested because he had gone into an open door which was only open because a burglary was taking place and thieves had made off with a load of computers. DS had left his wallet and jacket behind so the police had put 2 and 2 together to make 5. Fortunately before he left the building he'd called a taxi so the driver was able to confirm that he was empty handed.
It was the first time we realised we were no longer in a position to speak for our son as he was over 18. We felt so helpless whilst they sorted it out but we knew he didn't have it in him to burgal anybody.

I’ve had several from my daughter from all over the world but this one seriously inconvenienced me.
We were driving from Spain to our house in Bulgaria.
We were driving through Germany when I got a call to say I was needed back in the uk.
Booked a flight. OH dropping me off at airport when I received another call from daughter asking if I’d seen the news, what, no I hadn’t.
A volcano had erupted in Iceland. All flights were cancelled.
As I had to get back to the uk the only option was to find a station and get to the Eurostar terminal in France where the world and his wife were also going 😱

My son last week ‘is a zucchini the same as a courgette’ 🙂

My medic Dd works in A&E and she wishes people would phone their mums more often. She has to deal with so many minor conditions that she reckons I’d be able to treat with home remedies. And I’m not a nurse or anything so I don’t have specialist knowledge! She asks me first for health advice for herself even though she’s fully trained.

One of the best calls I ever had was from DS who said "Mum, do you remember M - a girl I'd briefly met some months previously? Well I've realised I really like her and I don't know what to do!"

After advising him to organise some outings for groups of friends and make sure she was invited, I wasn't sure what else to say, but grateful to be asked advice.

Well the advice worked and a few years down the line they are happily married and have given me two lovely grandchildren!

Nowadays I'm more likely to be phoning my kids for advice, especially when I have issues with technology!

My DD rang me one morning when I was in Istanbul to say there was no hot water in our house and she couldn't have a shower before work. Not sure what I could do from that distance. Half an hour later DS rang to say he had found the switch to the immersion heater which was only used in emergencies!

Mine is completely gifted with certainty, i.e., she is never wrong.

I will never forget the phone call from student DD in the 1980s to say that she and her travel companion were stranded in a remote part of Turkey, their airline had gone bust, and DD was suffering from chronic diarrhoea. Sort that one out! DH and I managed to find another airline and booked them on a flight to London the next day. We were nervous about whether this would work out and phoned the airline the next day to confirm that they were on the passenger list. A man replied and said he was not allowed to reveal the names of people on the flight...... "but I don't think you should worry Mrs L". I could have hugged that man then and there.

The worst was on Friday. My daughter rang me to say next door house was on fire and they had to be evacuated from their home at 3 am.Best was when the 2bd phone call was that they were safe and little damage to their home. They owner of the house on fire had set it himself and was watching it and chatting to my sil like it was normal.

In his first week at uni, son No. 1 rang me to ask how to cook some trout he had just bought, because the student cookbook we had supplied him with didn't cover that!
(Needless to say, he was out to impress a girl.)

Son No. 2, when he was at uni, would regularly phone from a supermarket saying what he wanted to cook (such as lasagna) and would keep me on the phone as he went around looking for each ingredient in turn.

Fortunately, the Internet soon replaced me as the go-to for such things, and both sons are great cooks these days, making most of the meals for their families.

I remember years ago DD2 being out with her boyfriend in his car when it got a puncture. BF was surprised when she suggested calling me to change the wheel rather than her father. In our family I was/am the practical one so the job was quickly done.

Not me but a former colleague's son, phoning her at work from a couple of hundred miles away in a student house.

"Mum, we've accidentally set the kitchen on fire. What's that number you have to ring?"

We have division of labour in our family, my daughter rings me for anything of an emotional nature, she rings her father for everything technical or practical and I ring her for all sorts of advice especially anything to do with travel or medical. Her father never asks anyone for advice as he's a complete know all, like most men! She's travelled very widely but only tells us of the problems she's encountered after the event, for which I am extremely grateful! The only time she did keep in contact during a real problem was when she was trying to get out of Sri Lanka before they locked down during the pandemic, she managed to get on the last plane out of Bandaranaike airport. It was a very worrying time.

I once phoned my mum in the middle of making dinner because I remembered her putting eggs in Welsh Rarebit and I couldn't figure out whether I should or not. It was her own special version and is jolly good! I think I might make it again soon!

I remember seeing the Bali bomb news on TV knowing my son was there.. then I had a call from him saying they had been in the same street but had gone to another bar.. such a relief