‘I am over forty, but still inches’

“I recently had a day off. I had worked so much overtime that my boss said, “Stay home.” I took it and sat on the couch with magazines all day. When I felt my eyes close, I just gave in. I woke up to two giggling girls.

My eleven-year-old daughter and her best friend Nora were smiling at me. I quickly pulled my thumb from my mouth and ran my hand through my hair almost innocently. From Nora’s face it was already too late; I would no doubt be the topic of conversation at her house that evening. Bad luck, I quickly thought. In the past I would have been ashamed, now I laugh at my childishness guilty pleasure. It is also quite hilarious: a woman in her forties who manages three departments at work and is the mother of two almost adolescent children who are still thumbing?

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Fingers crossed

My father did too. He watched TV with his thumb in his mouth. My mother exploded when she saw it, mainly because she thought he was setting the wrong example for me. As a child I thought that was stupid; what did it matter that I was still thumbing? It was the ultimate way to relax for me.

Later I liked it less. When I was fifteen, I accidentally put my thumb in my mouth once in class and I was bullied about it for years. But no matter how many times I tried to quit – by applying foul-flavored nail polish or putting a band-aid on my thumb – it didn’t work. After many nights of bad sleep I thought: what do I care. It seems that one in ten adults is still thumbing, so it is not that crazy.

My husband thinks it’s cute – although he is glad I do it alone in bed. And he wanted to be strict with our children. Fortunately, they have stopped working for a long time. Better, because then they are spared bullying. But for myself I only cherish my habit these days. With my thumb within reach, I fall asleep anywhere within five minutes. ”

This article has previously appeared in Kek Mama.

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