Motherhood

As a mother of 3 young children I often wonder if I am doing my job. And as a hair dresser I have many mothers that sit in my chair. Some are mothers of children that are now grown and moved away and now they are grandmothers. Some are mothers of teenagers, dealing with high school, all their childrens activities and preparing for the future. Some are mothers of children that are all now in grade school. Relieved to have some time to themslef, but wondering now what they will do with their time. And some mothers are where I am right now in my journey. Wondering how in the world I will make it through one more day of cleaning up spills, sweeping up crumbs, trying to get the ketchup out of the carpet, hearing..."mom come wipe my bum". How many times will I have to say..."please stop fighting!", "idiot is not a nice word!", and "please put your shoes on when you go outside. you have holes in every one of your socks!". Sometimes I think...will this laundry ever be done?...why do I even mop the kitchen floor?...and...why our bathroom becomes a water park at bath time. Most of the time I pray that...I will be bathed and ready before my boys wake up...that I will beable to find a pair of matching shoes...and that the word MOM will not get over used!..It is a differnt journey every day. Always something new. When I wake up in the morning I hope for patience, understanding and unconditional love. All 3 of my children are so oppisite from eachother and I have learned that what works for one does not work for the others. Recently my 4 year old, Heston, decided to knock 2 panels out of his friends families wood fence. The mother sent him home to tell me what he had done. I greatly appreciated this mothers wisdom. I later called and told her sorry, asked her if I needed to come fix her fence, and told her to let me know if he ever was out of line when at her home. My son ventured to her home again later that day. Not long after I got a phone call. Informing me that she had more bad news...Heston and some boys had been throwing rocks in her window well and Heston had thrown one and it shattered her basement window. I felt horrible. Twice in one day my child had been destructive and at someone elses home. I walked a crying 4 year old to her door and in an extremely sad vioce he looked up at her and said..."I am bery sorry". Then I looked at her and she had tears in her eyes aswell. She said to me earlier in the day..."it takes a village to raise a child"...ISN’T THAT THE TRUTH. Her love for my son was obvious. I apologized again, told her we would take care of the window and we walked home. I have been thinking about her and the example she has been to me. How great it is to live in the community that I do and be surrrounded by such loving people. I guess as I am journying through this thing called motherhood I am definately not alone!