Motherhood

Where have I been for the last few months? My feverish love of writing got temporarily sidelined by my feverish love of the holidays and having my children home.

I have had a thought rattling around in my brain for a while that I have been anxious to write about. Here it is: I love being a mother. I adore it. It is the best job in the entire world.

So, why is it that when some well meaning individual (invariably an empty-nester) tells me "This is the best time of your life. I hope you are enjoying it." I have to fight the urge to administer a solid right hook to the jaw? I distinctly remember the first time someone said those words to me. I was bouncing two fussy children around the church foyer when a sweet older sister came up to me, leaned heavily on her walker, and said "This is the very best time in your life. I hope you know that." I blame what happened next on the fact that I hadn't slept through the night in approximately two years. I narrowed my eyes, smiled (or rather revealed my bared teeth) and walked off without a word. I stalked the halls till I found my husband, thrust the screaming children at him and said "If this is as good as it gets, I quit."

Fast forward four years. Child #2 had just completely reverted in his potty training. He would find secret places in the house to pee (under the bed, behind doors, in the closet etc.) places which I would only stumble across by luck ... if stepping in a puddle of pee with a bare foot is luck. My house smelled like a zoo. Child #3 had begun a fascination with toilet water. When she wasn't drinking it, she was pouring it across the house via cup or soaking teddy bear. On this day, even child #1 had, had two accidents. I was rotating the children through the bath-tub when my husband came home, leaned against the bathroom doorway and said, "You know, that speaker in conference last month said that we were going to miss this. "I am sending that man a urine scented candle," I said, deathly serious. "And a spray bottle full of toilet water and vomit."

Now, I adore this time of life. I have just enough experience to have some wisdom and just enough youth to have all my faculties. I am needed by the people I love most. I have arms thrown around my neck every morning and I have all my children piled on my lap for stories at night. I can fix everything with a kiss, a band-aid, and a cookie. This time of life is is amazing. Yet, you never see other bleary eyed young mothers slapping each other on the back and saying "Woo Hoo, this is the best!"

I think that young parents in the trenches know what many empty-nesters have forgotten; that these rare and glorious moments are purchased at the highest possible price. No doubt, when I look back on these early years with a well rested mind, in a clean, quiet house, from the comfort of greater financial stability, I too will reminisce about the "best" time of my life. But, when I encounter the wrinkled forehead and dark-circled eyes of a young mother I hope I will acknowledge the immense price she is paying before I tell her - as we all need to be told - "These are some of the best times of your life. I hope you are taking the time to enjoy them."

Well, enough writing, I am going to go enjoy my children.