Mom.

She might have been the one who taught you the importance of washing behind your ears. You may have heard from her that patience is a virtue. And "please" and "thank you" were probably drilled into your vocabulary by her.

As a child, you probably idolized her.

As a teen, you were probably embarrassed by her.

Then you become an adult and what happens? You become her.

Delfina McKee had an epiphany one day.

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Amanda Lucidon / The Press-Enterprise

Delfina McKee, right, knew that she was becoming like her mother, Nicki Tapia, center, when she took her toaster apart to fix it. McKee says her daughter, Alexa McKee, 9, reminds her of her mother because she is also innovative.

Her toaster in her Canyon Lake home wouldn't work. Rather than going out to buy a new $10 toaster, she opened it up, cleaned it out and put it back together. And it worked!

While celebrating her success, she suddenly realized fixing the toaster was something her mom, Nicki Tapia, of Hemet, would do.

"My mom is a recycler," McKee said. "She will not throw away anything she can get a use out of.

"I think this is too much of a throw-away society," McKee said. And, that message will be passed down to her kids, too, she said.

Idyllwild resident Joyce Reid had her becoming-mom moment one day when she asked her daughter, "Does the back of my hair look all right?"

"My beautiful mom died in September of 2006 at the age of 96," Reid said. "Never did she have a hair out of place."

When Reid asked her daughter about her own hair, it was a deja vu moment, she said.

"We both burst out laughing because we had heard that asked so many times," Reid said.

Wearing an outfit of "a jewel-neck top, cardigan sweater and string of pearls" prompted Moreno Valley's Ruthee Goldkorn to realize she had become her mom.

Looking at an old picture of herself, her sister and mom, it was like looking into a mirror, she said.

She thought, "When the heck did all this happen?"

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Paul Alvarez / The Press-Enterprise

An outfit made Ruthee Goldkorn, here with daughter Sasha, realize she had become her mom. Goldkorn holds a portrait of herself, her mom and sister.

"Mom's picture is amazing and I just hope I am just as amazing to my daughter," she said.

David Riker, of San Bernardino, thinks there should be a support group for guys like him -- guys who feel too tough to admit "our moms have been right all these years."

"I started to tell my friends to grow up ... and clean their shoes before coming in my house ... and pick up the kitchen counters when you are done," Riker said.

"I even cut out coupons," he said.

"I don't know how it happened," he said. "I told my mom, 'I've become you.'

"She's a great woman," he said of his mom, Evelyn Riker, also of San Bernardino. "I love her with all my heart."

Reach Jennifer Dean at 951-368-9336 or jdean@PE.com