You might be a mother if…

This morning while emptying out the contents of my purse in order to make room for the camera to take pictures of Little Bit’s dedication, I came across the following…

Yes, that is a partially eaten three day old hotdog in the instance that you were wondering. I wrapped it up at dinner the other night in case Little Bit was still hungry later…I think the time for “later” to eat that has well passed now though!

I just had to laugh about it…because no one but a mother would wrap up a partially eaten hot dog and shove it into the depths of their personals bag…right alongside car keys, sunglasses, grocery lists, changes of clothes, crayons, and the list goes on…and on!

I thought I’d take this opportunity to think of a few other little gems to add to the treasures in the “you might be a mother if…” category.

You might be a mother if….

• You have ever popped at home and smuggled into the movie theater an entire bag of dairy free popcorn so that your allergic child can have popcorn during a movie.
• You regularly defy the laws of gravity during any family car trip by crawling back and forth from the front seat of the car to the back to make sure that each passenger has all the snacks, coloring books, movies, drinks, etc that they may need….every 6 minutes.
• You can make trail mix…just by cleaning the floor of your car.
• You have ever realized that the burning from rubbing your eye was the result of a stray particle of poop that had gotten on your hand during a diaper change.
• You have ever climbed to the top of any fast food playground, even though they are expressly for individuals who are less than 44inches tall.
• Alone time has been narrowed to just your time in the shower.
• You rarely ever have the luxury of peeing without a tiny audience.
• You buy bathing suits made for “active” lifestyles in an effort not to be the family beach peep show when you are holding a struggling toddler.
• You regularly wipe a child’s nose with nothing but your bare hand…or the hem of your shirt.
• You have had pee, boogers, poop, and throw up all end up on you…in one day.
• You traded in your BMW 328i convertible to end up one day with a minivan.
• You now wonder how you ever survived without a minivan.
• At the end of a realization of all of the ridiculous things that you find yourself doing and saying that you always swore you wouldn’t do or say…you find that you wouldn’t trade any of it for the world…

The other day I was thinking about all of the things that I wanted to do for myself and by myself for Mother’s Day…that this day was going to be the day that I could finally catch a break and be alone for a bit. I was thinking about how much I have “earned” a day like that.

Tid Bit had a Mother’s Day tea at his school on Friday, and honestly, I felt guilty for feeling all those things. I looked at pictures of my now 5 year old and saw summed up in 10 minutes, a slideshow of all the changes that have occurred, even in just the look of his face, over this past year…and suddenly I found myself already missing this little boy who will be grown for far more time than he will be small.

I read it all the time from women who must be far better than I…from women who either know the value of this time more because it has passed for them, or from women who must somehow do a better job embracing the right here and now than I do.  But I do try…I know these days are precious, even though oftentimes they are hard.  And every time I read something about valuing these days…treasuring this time…holding close these small hands and hearts, I think, “she is so right…I will miss this.”

The truth is that I already do.

So this Mother’s day, if you are a mother, I encourage you to focus not on all that you do and have done…because we all know that is a hefty and applaudable list.  Let us focus on what we have been given in this role of Mom. Hands to hold, boogies to wipe on our shirts, tears to wipe with our hugs, lives to shape with our influence…because THAT my friends is a gift that no one can ever buy or give to us.

Happy Mother’s Day friends…if you are a mother…I hope you enjoyed it. If you have a mother…rise up and bless her…not just today.

PS.  For those of you who aren’t mothers yet, but wish to be…I know that this day has probably been hard for you.  I’ve been there too.  And I think that tomorrow I will tell you more about that.