Thanks, Erma

Today is Erma Bombeck's birthday. For those who haven't heard of her, Erma was an American writer. She started out as a newspaper writer, but got married and had three kids, and for a middle-class woman in Ohio in the '50s, that was the end of a reporting career.

She couldn't stop writing, though, and starting writing a "little" column called At Wit's End for her local paper, talking about the light and dark sides of parenting. Her writing was self-deprecating and inclusive and funny. And other parents responded. In a year it was nationally syndicated, and eventually ran a few times a week in hundreds of newspapers. She went on to publish a dozen books of her collected columns.

I think Erma Bombeck was the mother of parenting blogs. Think about what you like about parent blogs--the not feeling alone, the not feeling like you're the only one who sucks at it sometimes, the not feeling like it's harder than you thought it would be--and realize that Erma did it first, by herself, with no comments section to help out. And she was funny. I mean, I sometimes crack myself up, but she was actually funny. Every column. For years and years in a row.

Spend a few minutes looking at the Erma Bombeck Online Museum. And then smile at another parent the next time you're out.

Comments

[SusieJ]

I've always loved Erma. Thank you for the reminder!

[Shelley]

Thank heavens for Erma Bombeck, and thank you, Moxie, for remembering her.

[Charisse]

Erma is awesome!! Moxie too. I will damn sure smile at another parent just as soon as Mouse is over this stomach flu thing.

[Vickie]

I loooved Erma Bombeck. I think at one point I owned copies of almost all her books. Now that I;m actually a mother, I wish she were still around to give her take on parenting in the new millenium.

[Jan]

When you're right, you're right, Moxie. I never thought of it that way, but she was the original Mommy Blogger, wasn't she? I loved her writing long before I even had designs on being a mommy myself.

[Trish]

thanks for the reminder! my mom used to have her books, and I'd read them when she was finished. I wonder if she still has them...

[Sarah]

How's this for irony... I was cleaning the house, and I discovered one of her books that I'd bought ages ago secondhand but never read. I started reading, and thought that it was really funny. Then I open your post!!

[MemeGRL]

"For those who haven't heard of her." Ouch.
I was too young by decades to be her "target audience" when she was in the paper, but our local paper carried her on the comics pages, so I started to read it. By the time I was 11 I had all of her books adn thought they were hilarious even then. Now I find them more inspirational than funny.
She's got quite a story. Thanks for sharing it.

[Tracy]

I too grew up with Erma. She was a ballsy chic. At a time when feminists were saying women could and should have it all, do it all, be it all she admitted to the world that it was harder than it looked.

Reading her was a lot like reading Moxie and commenters. We're all just trying to do the best we can and it's great to know someone else is going through the same stuff.

[Lisa V]

I think Erma gave women a voice, allowed them to admit that motherhood wasn't always easy and made us remember that someone who choose to parent full-time can be smart and funny.

RIP sweet Erma.

[Claudia]

I read her books as a kid, and really enjoyed them. I should get my hands on some of them now that I am a mom.

Thanks for the reminder about her!

[amy]

Though I can't remember the title of the piece, I think my favorite Erma story was the one about the differences between girls and boys. In a nutshell, she says that if you are in the basement doing laundry and you hear a "SHHHHHHHHuFFF Whomp!" and you yell upstairs to a boy "What are you doing?!" a boy will yell back, "I just put the cat down the laundry shoot AND IT WAS COOL!" If you hear the same noise and yell the same question upstairs to a girl, she will reply, "Nothing, Mom!"

I have one nearly 4 year old daughter, and based on my experience so far, I'd say Erma hit it on the head.

[SarcastiCarrie]

Erma was the Ultimate...I adopted and then got pregnant, too. Her oldest, a daughter, was adopted and home only a few months when she found herself pregnant with her son.

[Ally]

My grandma had her books and I loved reading them. Thanks for the reminder.

[caramama]

I haven't read her in forever. Now that I'm a mom, I really should re-read her!

Thanks for remembering her, Moxie. And what a good point about her being the predecessor of mommybloggers!

[miznoire]

I remember Erma so well...I read her column in the paper back in the 70s when I was a kid. I also remember seeing her on one of the morning shows fairly regularly (Good Morning, America?) And I also read her books when I was probably about 12 or 13 years old.

I am at home full time with my daughter after being in the workforce for many years. Since down-to-earth role models are so hard to find, I still think about Erma Bombeck a lot. Obviously she was a very talented woman who had an amazing career. She also elected to view herself as a "housewife" (no irony intended). She did not seem judgmental about being at work or at home, but just proved that you can do vastly different things at different stages in your life and be a whole person throughout.

If Erma was still with us, I just can't see her joining the Mommy Wars. She would find humor in the chaos of both choices. Yes, she is missed. I'm proud of this fellow Ohioan!

[lisa]

Urma was awesome. She was one of the people who gave us permission to admit that we're all human, and I've always loved her for that.

[ibmvacantlet]

all what even know personalities. and climb by themselves Forest. Now, in a hollow I know from were about neighborhood he got

[Peggy Smith]

I am looking for the piece by Erma about teaching the kids to clean house, this is a house, we have to live in it, this is a dog, it has to be fed etc. Can you help me?