Real Life with Lora Wimsatt

Keeping it Real RELATABLE STORIES FROM LOCAL PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS

She is MOM

There is something ironic about starting off a Mother’s Day celebration with breakfast in bed, the meal put together by the enthusiastic little hands (most likely unwashed) of the children for whom Mom usually prepares meals throughout the rest of the year.

No need to worry too much about the dry, burnt toast; just let it soak for a moment in the juices of the runny egg that is sliding all over the plate.

Dad might be hovering apologetically in the doorway as the kids bounce up and down on the mattress, and if Mom is lucky, he might be able to make a getaway to the nearest drive-through and pick up a bag of sausage biscuits or a box of doughnuts. By the time he gets back, of course, Mom has washed all the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen.

But Moms are always good sports when it comes to gifts from her precious little ones. After all, it’s part of the job description.

Construction paper cards decorated with crayon scribbles, blobs of dried glue and glitter – always, there must be glitter – are declared works of art, and posted prominently in the family art gallery, otherwise known as a refrigerator.

Flowers, however wilted and short-stemmed, are arranged in a vase, or at least a jelly jar glass, and of course Mom must be seen sniffing appreciatively at their fragrance, loudly and often, as the children beam proudly in the background.

If candy is given, it must be the kind that the kids also like. Traditional boxed chocolate assortments are fine, but somehow it seems that Mom gets stuck with the yukky coconuts, while the more desirable peanut clusters and mints are snatched up by everyone else.

Such is the life of a Mom.

But on this day – this one day of the year – all the work and worry and weariness … all the frustrations and frazzledness … all the long days and sleepless nights … all the chauffeuring children from school to playdate to lessons to practice to games to everywhere else they need to go … all the homework and baths and bandages and bedtimes … all that melts away as Mom is reminded, in voices ranging from big, loud and boisterous to small, shy and quiet, that she is appreciated, she is loved.

She is Mom.

This is her day.

And yet, even as she reaches out to embrace her children as they offer tight hugs and slobbery kisses, she is not thinking about herself. She never does.

For she knows that she is Mom only because of the most precious gift of all: Her children. OP

LORA WIMSATT is a mother, grandmother and writer. She enjoys the everyday blessings and adventures of life, especially her family.