The Day I Thought I Was Done

There are two chores I hate above all others:  putting dishes away and putting laundry away.  I actually enjoy washing dishes (our dishwasher has been broken for over a year) and even folding clothes.  I just hate putting them away.  One day I timed it and it only took 3 minutes to put my laundry away, so I don't know why I hate it so much.  I just do.

With that said, you can imagine my joy as I washed and put away my last dish today and caught up on all my laundry.  Ahhh.  I can finally rest.

Oh, wait.  We still had meals to eat and clothes we were wearing.  My dishes and laundry will never be done.  For the rest of my life, I will always have dishes to wash and clothes to launder.  My work will never be done.

It's not just dishes and laundry that will never be done.  I will forever be a mother.  That is a job that will never end.  And, unlike putting away bowls and pants, I'm thrilled about that.  I sometimes try to imagine my boys all grown up.  I can't.  I really can't.  I don't know why.  I can see myself in 10 years (probably because I've looked the same since I was 2), but I have no idea what my boys will look like.  I try to imagine their personalities and mannerisms.  But I can't.  They change so much there's no telling what they will be like.  I can hope they will be happy, polite, courteous, patient, academic, athletic, self-motivated, confident, and all the other things parents hope for their children, but I can't say for sure how they will be.  I just hope that they turn out they way they were meant to.  Each boy has his own individual eternal purpose here on earth and I pray that as I do my work, I can help them reach their potential.

I see my mother-in-law still parenting her son (not in a weird over-protective-smothering-must-see-Dr.-Phil kind of way, but in a completely-appropriate-caring-advice-giving-when-asked sort of way).  She is a good example to me of how a mother's work is never done.  I can see (and have recently) her get frustrated with some of the decisions her children make, just like I do with my little men.  I see her teach her children by example even now, just like I do with my guys.  I see her offer council when needed, just as I do now.

Even though I cannot imagine my boys all grown-up, I am looking forward to those days, but please don't get here too soon.

So, here's to motherhood.

Here's to working from son up to son down.

And here's to a Better Mommy Me.