An Urban Legend for Mother's Day

Okay, this story totally reminds me of one night sitting around the dinner table with my three boys (there was no Sabrina at the moment to try and balance out the testosterone running WILD through my home) and my mother. Rob was in the Philippines, I came home to help get my mom through the holiday season the year my Dad passed away, and we had invited my mom over to have dinner with us.

It's the end of dinner, the baby is starting to crawl on the table, Zach and Jared are farting and burping and laughing like there is no tomorrow. I look at my mom and state, "It will take me 18 years to train them so some other unsuspecting woman will take them out of my home, won't it?"

This came from Lynda, one of my American friends here in Aceh,.. I have no idea if this is true or not, but HAPPY EARLY MOTHER'S DAY!!

So, we had this great 10 year old cat named Jack who just recently died. Jack was a great cat and the kids would carry him around and sit on him and nothing ever bothered him. He used to hang out and nap all day long on this mat in our bathroom.

Well, we have 3 kids and at the time of this story they were 4 years old, 3 years old and 1 year old. The middle one is Eli. Eli really loves chapstick. LOVES IT. He kept asking to use my chapstick and then losing it.

So finally one day I showed him where in the bathroom I keep my chapstick and how he could use it whenever he wanted to but he needed to put it right back in the drawer when he was done.

Last year on Mother's Day, we were having the typical rush around and try to get ready for Church with everyone crying and carrying on. My two boys are fighting over the toy in the cereal box. I am trying to nurse my little one at the same time I am putting on my make-up. Everything is a mess and everyone has long forgotten that this is a wonderful day to honor me and the amazing job that is motherhood.

We finally have the older one and the baby loaded in the car and I am looking for Eli. I have searched everywhere and I finally round the corner to go into the bathroom. And there was Eli. He was applying mychapstick very carefully to Jack's . . . rear end. Eli looked right into my eyes and said "chapped." Now if you have a cat, you know that he is right--their little butts do look pretty chapped. And, frankly, Jack didn't seem to mind. And the only question to really ask at that point was whether it was the FIRST time Eli had done that to the cat's behind or the hundredth.

And THAT is my favorite Mother's Day moment ever because it reminds us that no matter how hard we try to civilize these glorious little creatures, there will always be that day when you realize they've been using your chapstick on the cat's butt.