Worth Sharing

We all have them, those "friends" who like to send joke upon joke via email, sometimes with the enthusiasm of chipmunks hopped up on pixie stix.

Sometimes I open them, sometimes I just delete them (kinda depends on my mood, the barometer, my caffeine consumption thusfar, etc.) - you get the point.

This one though, titled "Happy Mother's Day", immediately got opened because I thought it was a sweet message from a dear friend of mine regarding our shared journey into motherhood, amongst other "adventures" better left for a later date (we've been friends a looooooong time). Instead of a sentimental note, it was a joke.

Mind you, she is the type of friend that never sends jokes, so I gave it my full attention.

It could be me, writing the following, except that I left our cat on the side of the road before we moved into this house (believe what you will, I loooove animals, really I do!).

And here you go, some Mother's Day Goodness for all of you:

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 , trying 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 my chapstick 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 we lovingly call our children, there will always be that day when you realize they've been using your chapstick on the cat's butt.