I Applaud You, Mothers!
I want to wish all mothers a very happy Mother's Day! There is no way to describe all that a mother does for her children, all of the hats she wears on any given day. I have limited myself to the letters in "mother" to just scratch the surface of why I appreciate my own mother, as well as my friends and family who are mothers.
M - Mothers clean up our messes. From the moment a child is born, mothers clean up pee and poop that somehow leaks out of the most secure diapers. They scrub vomit stains from couches and carpet (sometimes in the middle of the night). They help children blow runny noses. The worst messes are the ones that cannot be cleaned with disinfectant: broken hearts over lost love, disappointment over failure, rejection from friends, etc.
O - Mothers put others first. So often I have been at lunch with a friend who offers her own lunch to an unusually hungry child. They pay for soccer teams, gymnastics, piano lessons, and tutoring with money they would rather spend on a nice vacation.
T - Mothers give us their time. They stay up late at night helping with homework and projects. They take off work to spend the day on a class field trip. They play board games when they would rather be watching the newest movie to make it to Redbox. They chauffeur children when they dream of relaxing in a bathtub with a good book.
H - Mothers protect our health. They make us take vitamins and eat our vegetables. They cover us in jackets, scarves, and mittens so we don't "catch our death." Worst of all, they make us go to the doctor for check-ups.
E - Mothers educate us. This does not just include homeschool moms. Mothers everywhere teach their children not to run with scissors, stick anything into an outlet, or take candy from a stranger. They train them to brush their teeth and take showers. These may seem like small things, but aren't you glad the person sitting next to you at church learned those last two lessons?
R - Mothers show us how to relate to others. They make us apologize when we're wrong . . . and mean it, whether we want to or not. They show us how to treat others with respect, not just whack them when we don't get our way. They teach us to be considerate of others by consistently asking the dreaded question: "How would you feel if someone did that to you?"
Though we may not appreciate all that our mothers did for us as children, we can look back and be thankful for their daily sacrifice. As mothers, we may not feel appreciated for the sacrifices we make on a daily basis; we can only hope that our children will realize it someday in the future. In the meantime, fellow mothers, I appreciate you and I applaud you.
