After completing my first year of college, I’m living at home for the summer, and being gone for so long has allowed me to realize that it’s happened to me: I’ve become my mother. Perhaps you’ve realized this about yourself and your own mother before I have, but being away from home has allowed everything to really “click” in my brain so to speak. We are practically the same person! Some of these “ah-ha” moments happened during the school year, and others I have discovered in these first few weeks of living at home for the summer. So take a seat, and allow me to share with you the new “mom mannerisms” that have snuck into my life. Perhaps you can relate to them as well!

1. The Argument Style

Of course, one of the main reasons a mother and daughter fight all the time is because they get annoyed by the same things, and they use the exact same crappy comebacks. I’m sure we can all relate to these quarrels. All of a sudden, in the midst of World War III, your mom begins to use some pretty skewed logic. You might begin to think, “How does she even think that’s reasonable? Does she even hear herself? That doesn’t make ANY sense!” And then the light bulb comes on. Even though you may not agree with what she’s saying, you realize the way she’s laying out her argument is the exact same way that you’re laying out yours. It doesn’t really matter which side you pick, both sides seem to follow a similar idiotic pattern. And even though you both would rather have your eyes scratched out by a satanic cat than give in to the other person, you have to admit that you respect your mom a little bit more for being so stubborn. After all, she’s who you learned it all from.

2. The Third Parent

If you have younger siblings, you’ll understand what I mean when I say they’ve just gained a third parent. I constantly catch myself asking my little brother, “Now what time do you need to be there? Do you have enough water for your baseball game? Do you need more money?” You don’t really know why all of a sudden you become another mom. (If we really think about it, our younger siblings should be more self sufficient than the last time we saw them!) However, for some odd reason you feel a little more protective of them. Perhaps it’s because you’ve been somewhat on your own now, and you don’t want them to grow up just yet. Whatever it is, I’m sure my younger brother can’t wait until I go back to college so he only has to hear two nagging voices instead of three.

3. The Humor

This type of realization happens in the middle of the school year. You’re halfway through a really rough week, you’ve probably been up the last three nights doing last minute homework, and you’re a little behind on sleep. It begins after you see a funny video, or your friends say something that reminds you of home. Whatever it is, you respond with a really funny comment that just cracks you up. You’re dying laughing, but no one else seems to get it. This is when you realize that you have the same humor as your mom. You know that if she were there, you both would already be in tears because you laugh at the same things and find them absolutely hysterical. It might have been an inside joke, or it might have been a reference to the favorite TV shows that you both would watch together, but you know you both would be dying of laughter because what you said was something only she would understand.

4. The Gossip Queen

When you come home for breaks, you both instantly turn into Lucy and Ethel, gossiping away, and acting as if you haven't seen each other in 10 years. It’s this moment when you realize she gets just as excited about stupid little things as you do, and you both sit there laughing, filling the air with, “Did you hear this?” “No! What happened?” It continues on until a few hours later when you’ve realized it’s gone dark outside, and you’ve both gained abs from all of the jokes you’ve been telling one another.

5. The Irritating Quirks

So this happens when you’re in the middle of telling this long and elaborate story about something funny that happened to you in the grocery store, and you begin to notice a change on your friend’s face. It’s the “you’re taking too long to tell this story with all of these boring details, so please skip and continue to the main point” face. If you’re lucky, you might even get the hand gesture that looks like a queen’s “hello” but actually means “please move along”. The reason you know all of this is because you do the exact same thing to your mom when she’s telling you a story. You’ve adapted her story telling ways, and no matter how many times you tell her to get to the point faster, she’s going to continue to slowly go over every detail just to make sure the story is worth your while. Likewise, you will continue to do the same thing, and your friends will continue to give you their pained faces and hurried hand gestures.

6. The Speech

You really realize you’ve become your mother when you start to use some of the same phrases that she does. I often find myself using the same idioms that my own mother has used for my entire life. Now most people would argue that idioms are a part of everyday speech, and there’s nothing special about it. However, my mom likes to use the ones that no one has heard of. Naturally, I went to college and started using these phrases, but then I had to explain what they meant to my friends after I said them. (For the record. I’ve always been convinced that some of these idioms aren’t real, but then my mom got an idiom book for Christmas one year. Needless to say, she wins most of the debates.)

7. The Facial Expressions

It really begins to set in when you start making the same facial expressions that she does. I’ve never been one to hide what I’m thinking very well, and the more I notice it, neither is my mother. It happens when you’re having a nice conversation over lunch, and all of a sudden you see the slight change in her eyes. Maybe it was something you said, or maybe she’s just noticed the spinach stuck between your teeth, but something definitely happened. A stranger would have no idea that anything changed, but you recognize that face because it’s the same one you make. Of course, you can always get a confirmation of that when your friends tell you that you have the same facial expressions!

8. The Sleep Habits

I never thought this one would happen, but hey, college is weird. It changes you. It used to be really cool staying up until three in the morning. A few hours of Criminal Minds every night was the normal routine until you realized that sleep sounded much more appealing. Although, it doesn’t stop there. Going to bed before midnight has become routine, and you get cranky, (regardless of how many hours of sleep you actually get), if you don’t go to bed on time. Beauty sleep is a real thing, folks. I never understood why my mother always turned off the television around 10 and headed off to her bedroom. Now, I completely understand.