An email gem « This Journey

An email gem

Couldn’t resist passing this on…but not via email. Just saying.

In honor of Mothers Day…

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 and
try 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, there will always be that day when you realize they’ve been
using your chapstick on the cat’s butt.