Mommy Similes

In honor of Mother's Day this month, I've decided to share some thoughts and insights into just what it means to be a mother. I'm going to try to post one mommy simile each day until the 14th.  'Try' is the key word because, well, I am a mom and never know what each day may bring. So here it goes:

May 1
Being a mom is like working for disaster clean-up. You know those people that come in after a disaster with their gloves and masks and clean things up and fix things to make an area livable again; those people that deal with some terrible and gross stuff; those people that you're thankful for but also question how they do it...that's a mom, except for without the gloves and mask. A mom faces every disaster from permanent marker on the walls, sofa, and hardwood floor to the three P's (poop, pee, and puke) without flinching (or with a little flinching but not when anyone is looking). I have walked into a room after my sons, my sweet Tasmanian Devils, have been in there for only 15 minutes, and it looks like a hurricane or tornado ripped through their room. I don't know how they do it, but I do know that my job is disaster clean-up. It's a never ending job, but I do have some help occasionally. My dog knows that when I say, "Clean-up on aisle two," the boys are done eating, and it's time for him to clean up the floor around the table. The slobber just adds a shiny luster, right?

Whenever a mother hears the sound of retching, automatically her hand shoots forward, ready to catch whatever is about to come forth. I don't know what causes a mother to do this...maybe a brain defect...because the normal reaction is to clear out (my husband holds the record for potential vomit situation exit strategies). Whenever one of my children gets sick, and it's never in a bucket or proper location, I often think of the Japanese workers at the nuclear plant in Japan after the big earthquake there a couple of years ago. Everyone was afraid that the plant was going to blow, but a few people had to stay behind to manage things. I admire their bravery and self-sacrifice. I wonder if they had much of a choice. When it comes to toxic fumes, bodily discharges of any kind, anything disgusting...a mother often stands alone. She is the epitome of bravery and self-sacrifice, because sometimes you really don't want to deal with a mess, but someone has to do it, and that someone is usually you, the mom.

And the next time that you visit me, and my house is far from spotless...in fact, it may look like a disaster just struck...please understand that being a mom is like working for disaster clean-up and being a mom of three young sons means a natural disaster every five minutes. The minute I get the twelve matchbox cars that have been jammed into my vacuum out (true story, my son loves jamming things into any holes or openings that he comes across), I will begin my disaster clean-up straight away!

Two quotes that I love:

"Cleaning up with children around is like shoveling during a blizzard."

Jerry Seinfeld - "A two-year old is kind of like having a blender, but you don't have a top for it."