Checking out the latest thing on the net and in the papers, listening to the chatter on the usual lines, it’s hard not to notice that Mother’s Day is upon us. Sometimes people forget, like I do once in awhile, about their mommas and what all mothers do best, be a mother to you.
Like I said, only some people forget what should be a very important date on the calendar. The others, well, they don’t forget and therefore Mother’s Day is celebrated. As an important date, Mother’s Day is right up there with the first anniversary of anything, except it happens every year around the same time in May… (I think).
Mother – or baby versions of the word like mama, mummy, mommy and then much later on, googum – is the primary sound we make before we can say anything else. On the other hand, some fathers claim the first word that comes out is “Da”. But try breastfeeding there, dad. Don’t think so, so the claim for first word probably goes to mommy dearest herself.
Mothers are an important lot. Most can handle diapers with ease and wipe your little bum clean and snap back a clean one in under five seconds. Another amazing skill is how quickly a mother can calm you down. Some babies still need calming down years later and mothers still perform effortlessly in that department. Sometimes it takes a couple of bucks, but it still works.
Many mothers tend to be too motherly, but that doesn’t matter. What does is that she does mother you. For some men, getting that motherly attention should be kept at home or somewhere that the other macho guys can’t see you getting a little peck on the cheek. However, deep down they all still like it.
Mothers often come with built-in recipes that spring from magical noises that sound like all hell’s breaking loose in the bowels of the kitchen, until you take a bite out of that pie or cake she’d been slaving over, just to make you smile. I think that’s my favourite part of motherhood in all its representative glory – the eating part. The smell of good cooking always reminds me of mom’s home cooking for some reason.
Another amazing thing that mothers can do is fix all kinds of bruises, cuts and burns as well as imaginary pains disguised with tears of “I want that or I’ll cry” attitude. They can even out negotiate that other guy, meaning dad, into getting what you really want to eat, instead of green beans, citing protein and iron as better for a growing boy, so just eat the meat, okay?
Sometimes a mother’s burden grows pretty big, with lots of laundry and dishes to do and that’s where I get a lot of respect for them. Try bouncing a tot on one knee, keeping the other out of trouble on the other knee, talking to your own mother for more advice on the phone on how to handle the bigger kids, dab a bingo card with the spare hand and make a cup of tea for the old fogey on the couch for good measure. Wow, talk about multi-tasking. And I thought shopping for groceries was hard to do….
So, to all mothers out there, take the time out to be appreciated by us old geezers, and leave the kids alone for awhile. Wait a minute, is this a Cialis commercial?
