Just exactly what makes a woman a mother? And I don’t mean, the person who gave you life, I mean what encompasses the meaning of the word mother? There are many women in today’s World that are not mothers in any sense of the word. There are others, like my mother in law Dixie, who embodies the word mother in every sense of the word. Then there’s those that had to make painful and difficult decisions, putting their child’s best interest first rather than caring about themselves. In my wife’s case, she considers herself very lucky to have two mothers that both care and love her very much. Not being a woman, I can only imagine, but to me the real work which earns a woman the title of “mother” begins after the child is born.
We fathers have our own challenges, but it seems that Mom is the one who the kids always run to for comfort, is always at fault, takes the brunt of any conflict, usually gets stuck with most (if not all) of the cleaning, cooking, laundry, taking care of the pets the kids promised to take care of, and on top of that, also has to take care of the father. In our home, Mom is the glue which keeps us all together. I don’t mean financially or even emotionally but she has this unspoken presence that binds our family together.
Each of have our own stories from growing up but in my case, my Mom was the mother, father, cook, cleaner, banker, chauffeur, chief bottle washer, etc. Now we had some tough times, but looking back, there’s nothing I’d change about my childhood. Everything that happens to you when you’re growing up goes into making you who you are today. Under this logic, we can now praise and thank our Mom’s for all our successes and blame them for our failures. You see, Mom, sometimes you just can’t win! Now being serious for a moment, being a Mom I’m sure is rewarding in many ways but it can also be one of the most thankless jobs out there. I wouldn’t trade being a father for anything and I’m sure my wife, and all you mothers out there wouldn’t trade being a mom either, but I’m sure glad I’m the dad and she’s the mom!
So from me, I just want to say thank you to my Mom and to all the mothers out there that are part of our family and made each of us who we are today. We’re very lucky to have each and every one of you as mothers, mother in laws, grandmothers, sisters and aunts. Today is the one day of the year when you are to be recognized and thanked for all your hard work. So today when you’re doing the dishes after the party, or making the food, or putting bandaids on scraped knees or giving the kids a bath and fighting to get them to go to sleep tonight, take comfort in knowing that you are appreciated.
Now on to the day, soccer was painful yesterday, not the games themselves, but the commute to and from each game. For me and the oldest, it took almost an hour to drive almost half the way to Cheyenne Wyoming (guess it wasn’t that far but it was a 3rd of the way anyhow) for his game. His team and he in particular, played really well. It was zero zero at halftime but we lost 3 to zip. Our goalie suffered an injury early in the second half so the oldest was “subbed” in for him. The goals scored were actually not his fault but that of his team mates who didn’t let him get the ball. (long story but we have a few kids who are real ball hogs and hurt the team more than help it) Anyhow we finished up about 12:30 and headed home on the highway. We arrived home at 1:30 and pulled in at the same time as Mom and the littlest one who had just finished up their game and a quick trip to Target. Later in the day, the misses pointed out I had super red knees. I didn’t notice but it seems an hour in the Colorado sun, sitting watching soccer without sunscreen, had turned my pasty white winter knees into bright red flesh hot to the touch. At least we remembered to get sunscreen all over the boys.
The rest of the day was consumed by a brief nerf war and the kids playing with the neighbor boys. We cooked up some chicken legs for the boys and the misses and I had some super hot green chili made by one of her friends the day before. This batch was so hot, we had to try to dilute it with chicken stock which didn’t really do much except water it down. We all fell asleep pretty quick and are rested for today’s celebration.
We’re off to my Mom’s at 11am for a brunch as we have football at 1pm. The rest of the afternoon will most likely consist of the all the neighborhood kids playing together and maybe some more planting.
In closing I need to say a special thank you to the love of my life and our boys Mom. You see she does a fantastic job loving and taking care of all three of us “males”. She puts up with every toilet seat always left up, clothes all over the floor, (it seems none of us can use a clothes hamper) , drinking right out of the milk carton, and all the other things real men do! She doesn’t get enough credit or praise for all she does, but she is truly amazing and we love her very much, we’re very blessed as a family.
So to all of you, we’ll be thinking of each of you (and try to call you all today) and hope you enjoy your day.
Stay safe, healthy and thankful for all you have and as our oldest says, peace out!