Did I Just Channel My Mother?

I had my first-ever Mom Voice moment today. You know that voice: the booming, authoritative, near-militaristic sharpness that suddenly explodes from somewhere above you and demands to know if you've lost your damn mind. The voice that grabs right ahold of your brain-stem and forces you to freeze in your tracks and drop whatever foolishness you were doing. That voice.

I worked my next-to-last day in the party goods store today. We were crazy busy, because we've had a break in the cold weather. I was helping a co-worker re-assemble a display, and I heard, from around the corner, the distinct "ting, ting" of two wineglasses knocking together. I poked my head around the corner and saw a little girl, maybe five years old, who had picked up two of our whisper-thin and overpriced wineglasses, and was banging them together. Like bells. I popped around there immediately, pointed my finger at her, and boomed out, "UNH-UH. NO. NO." Not in a panic; not as a request; as a command, not to be disobeyed under any circumstances, in a tone that brooked no argument. Her father sprang into action, snatched the glasses out of her hand, picked her up, and immediately started apologizing to me in a tone and body language that surprised me somewhat. He looked at me like a guy whose boss has just caught him looking at porn on the work computer. I just said, back in my normal customer service Inside Voice, "I'm sorry sir; we can't play with those." He nodded and skedaddled.

My co-worker smiled knowingly at me and said, "You're going to be a great mom."

Hells yeah.