Mommy's Here

I am standing in the midst of my living room, spit-up rags piled next to the couch from last night, the sink filled with stained clothing soaking, the washer's beeping letting me know the diapers are ready for another wash cycle, the same lullaby playing for the seventeenth time today. Somewhere in the midst of a crying bout triggered by the dual injustices of teething and a localized diaper rash it hit me.

I love my job.

All the education I have had could not have prepared me for a career as well as God and nature have equipped me to be a mother. How else would my arms know the exact way he needs to be held and patted to calm him. He looks at me with those teary eyes and our hearts speak. What hurts? Your bottom? Your teeth? Your belly? Do you just need to be held? Talked to? Smiled at? Do you just need to be here with me, sitting with me, breathing the same air as me? Mommy just stop. Take a second and stay with me.

What job could be more mundane? What job could be more significant?

In the end it doesn't matter that the house isn't perfect or that we are nuking something frozen for dinner or that I will be running laundry late into the night. It doesn't matter that most of the last three days were spent with his misery pouring out to cover us both. His smiles of joy and appreciation at my presence despite his pain make this job worth waking up for. As he lays his head against my shoulder I can't think of a single thing on my to do list more important and I hear the inane babble of moms everywhere coming out of mouth.

"Shhh...mommy's here, mommy's here."

Happy mother's day to all you amazing women out there, but especially to my mother who has been nothing short of amazing for 26 years! By your example, you have prepared me for motherhood, mentally and emotionally. Thank you!