Thank you for this thread.
We lost mum in 07 - three weeks before her 57'th anniversary. I'm still coming to terms with that.
I realised I was turning into my Mum when I caught myself saying "What a NICE young man!"
However, the saying that I use all the time is: 'SMILE & POINT YOUR TOES'
I had thought it was a saying for me alone, as I used to go to ballet lessons, and as the oldest and tallest in the class, would either be the first or last on stage.
I take it now to mean: Go on out in the world, day by day and put a pleasant face on it all, leave your problems behind - show the world that you are just as talented/worthy as the rest of them!
It turns out at the funeral, that she used this phrase for my sister too (11years older - must have done ballet too!)
Not a saying but a doing... Mum taught me to bow at the Full Moon 7 times. I drag my youngest son out with me to do this every month - generally in public. We still see this as a Nancy-ism.
thanks
bronny