A Moment to Mosaic (Thanks TikTok)

For all you hip and rad moms out there who use TikTok, you may have seen the recent trend called “mosaic.” It was going around a bit over the summer. In this trend, the TikTokers (is that a word? . . . I’m making it a word) discuss various behaviors, quirks, phrases, and actions they have in their own life as a result of their own experiences with others. This could include quirks they’ve picked up, phrases they say, or specific ways they do things.

As I watched this trend unfold on TikTok, I couldn’t help but wonder what I would say if I were making a mosaic video on TikTok. (And to be clear, I don’t make TikTok videos. . . well, that’s a lie. I’ve made two. One was about folding sheets and the other was a shot of me panning the camera around a prairie. So, obviously, I’m very hip to the TikTok creation.).


TikTok Mosaic


Occasionally it is just fun to do something different than “momming” and for me, sometimes, TikTok is that thing.

So, without further ado, here is a piece of my mosaic . . .


I have made it a point for the last 32 years to sit up straight and pull my shoulders back multiple times each day because my first grade teacher showed us a picture of an elderly person hunched over and I vowed that I would never have slouched shoulders.


I have a sizeable pink quartz rock that sits outside my front steps in the garden bed in front of my house because my grandma had a similar stone in front of her house.

As a young child I became determined to have both a solid family life and be a fierce career woman because I admired Diane Keaton’s ability to do the same in the 1987 movie Baby Boom.


I keep a clay candle holder with a single candle in it on my dining room table and we light it at dinner time because my dad’s mother does the same thing on her table my entire life.


Growing up my parents would hold each other’s hands or our hands and squeeze three times to signal “I love you.” One squeeze for each word. Then we would squeeze back four times, “I love you too.” My husband and I have done this our entire marriage and now we do it with our kids, too.


Once when my Aunt was in graduate school, we visited her apartment and I helped her fold laundry. She taught me how she liked her towels folded and I’ve folded my towels that way ever since.


As people who adore the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding my husband and I will say, “Why you want to leave meeeee?” any time the other person is going away for an extended period of time.


When I order something at a drive through I yell, “Okay, here we come!” as we pull away because my best friend from graduate school once told me that is what her brother did and I thought it was funny.


Once when I spent the night at a friend’s house in elementary school, they had three kinds of orange juice to choose from at breakfast. My family always only had one choice. I loved orange juice, and couldn’t believe they were willing to let me drink as much orange juice as I wanted and with three options to boot. My entire life I’ve thought of orange juice as a hot commodity and refer to it as “liquid gold” because of that experience.


I like to burn candles in my home because my aunt always had candles burning in her house. I always thought her home felt so cozy.


Cinnamon Toast Crunch continues to be one of my favorite cereal choices because my grandpa loves it and it always feels like a treat having it.


My dad always presents a plan or idea by ending it with the question, “Deal?” and then we would respond, “Deal!” Now I present plans or ideas to my kids and end by saying, “Deal?” just like he does.


When I get gas, I always turn my gas cap three extra turns, even when I know it is already twisted closed because my driving instructor told us how important it was to make sure your gas cap was closed securely. He assured us that by twisting it three extra times, we would always know it was closed . . . and that was 24 years ago.


Hummingbirds make me smile because my great grandmother always watched the hummingbirds out the front window and would chatter at them as they flew between feeders.


What would your TikTok mosaic include?

Linda
Linda is a Michigan native who moved to Iowa City in 2011 and hasn’t left yet. She and her husband of twelve years, Jacob, have two spunky kids – a kindergartner and a third grader. Linda works full time at the University of Iowa as the Administrative Director for the Medical Scientist Training Program. Together, Linda and her family enjoy cheering for the Nebraska Cornhuskers (shhhh!), going on adventures both big and small, and playing board games (they have over 100 and will play with anyone they can talk into it). Linda is often told she has two volumes: on and off, and she will enthusiastically respond to any news you tell her. No matter the volume she uses, Linda is an “old soul” with a love for baking, embroidery, and old movies.

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