Happy Mother’s Day!
Whether you’ve got one on the way, are celebrating for the first time, or you’re a veteran with grandkids, this Sunday is dedicated to you.
Who else would pick a pair of socks up off the floor and instinctively sniff them? And how about the fact that we clean up barf? A day in our honor is in order.
While no one can suggest motherhood is glamorous, being a mom is the best job on the planet. I wouldn’t trade a day being my kids’ mom for anything.
Moms are hearty folk. We get more curve balls thrown at us than a major league baseball player and break up more fights than a referee in the NHL. Who but a mom can help with multiplication while making multigrain muffins.
Muliti-taskers on a mission, we bake birthday cakes, bandage boo-boos, blow on bowls of soup, and brush hair. We sing, soothe, snuggle, sit on sidelines, say sorry, and tell stories.
We make mistakes.
This day is for moms who have good intentions. Moms who find Girl Scout badges in a drawer that were never sewn on a uniform. Moms who order pizza for dinner even though the chicken has been defrosting since nine o’clock in the morning.
We celebrate moms who forgot it was early pick-up day at school as much as moms who are there 10 minutes before the bell rings. We’re all just doing the best we can.
Moms set boundaries that kids attempt to ignore, cross, test, or circumvent. Yet we still hold fast to our posts. We draw lines in the sand, only to feel like the grains are kicked in our face. We brush ourselves off and draw a deeper line.
We understand the difference between the lessons we teach our kids and the lessons life must teach them. It’s hard to see our kids hurting, and that makes us brave. A mother’s courage is continually tested.
Were it not for mothers, no children would ever get their bangs trimmed or write thank you notes. No one would have a belly button.
Our kids can’t possibly know how much we love, worry, and think about them. How much we hope they find a friend. How we wish we could bottle up their belly laughs and their snagled-tooth smiles.
On this Mother’s Day, as every day, I salute my fellow moms on a job well done.
Jill Fales is the mother of four and author of “My Laundry Museum & Other Messy Gifts of Motherhood.” Visit her at JillFales.com.
Jill, I just stumbled on this on your timeline. I wanted to send you a message, and I found this. Great writing. I saw that you have written other articles. I had only read one before–the walkiw talkie one. I will check your website for the others. What I wanted to now is are you the person that post’s moms acrossamerica??? My daughter Christine is very involved in the fight against monsanto and she wanted to now how to get the moms across americas without me having to share them with her.