M is for Multi-taskers

Saturday was finally a sunny day for Carter's soccer game so I was looking forward to taking some pictures. Right before the game started, however, they needed a parent from our team for flag duty (person who raises the flag when the ball goes out of bounds on our side of the field). The coach asked my stepsons but they didn't seem too willing so I just grabbed it and said I'd do it.

As I found myself walking up and down the sidelines with the flag in my left hand and a camera in my right hand, I thought, this is what a mother is -- a multi-tasker. She can be a "boundary babe" at the same time as a "determined scrapbooker." Definitely a multi-tasker.

I often wonder how my mother managed to raise 8 kids without the modern conveniences (like microwaves and indoor plumbing) we enjoy today. My life if so full with just one child! My mother was not working outside the home for most of her life, but she was multi-tasking with more balls in the air than I could juggle. Yet she found time to do what we considered "motherly" things.

She sewed. She wrote stories and drew pictures for us to color. She created "church notebooks" for us, using tissue box cardboard for the covers and recycled envelopes for the pages. She made dolls and developed games. She hung clothes on the line and created Halloween costumes for us. She made bread!

For as many times as I say with frustration, "I'm turning into my mother," I also think, "I wish I could be like my mother."

I don't own a sewing machine but in a pinch I can sew on a button or fix a hole on some things. If our socks have holes in them, they go in the trash. Darn it.

I do write stories but not necessarily for my son's enjoyment. I have never crafted a notebook or toy for him but did create a dinosaur Halloween costume for him when he was 4.

I don't ever hang clothes on the line but do make sure my dryer sheets are the ones with "outdoor scent."

The only bread I bake is banana bread, but I do enjoy baking some of the cake and cookie recipes my mother has passed along.

Yes, we are definitely from different generations, but we do have plenty in common. We love our children beyond measure. So much that we cry when they hurt and we cry when they're happy. I'm convinced mothers have so much love it leaks out sometimes in the form of tears.

I cried when I read Carter's homemade card this morning. There was a picture of a house and it said "open the door to see who loves you." When I folded the paper door back, his school picture was there.

I don't care how challenging motherhood can be some days or how many balls we're juggling in the air, a card like that followed by a great big hug make it all worthwhile.

Happy Mother's Day!