Mom Moment

Have you ever had one of those moments where you stop and think “Oh gosh, I am just like my mother.”  Well, that moment hit me this morning.  It was something simple, no big deal really but it sort of overwhelmed me.  Not in a bad way either, just a way that made me think.

You know those times when you were living at home and you looked all over the house for something?  You had searched high and low, under the bed, couch, sink and on top of the cabinets, behind the tv, you get the gist.  You may have even resorted to looking in the refrigerator because lets face it, at this point that thing you are looking for could be anywhere in the house.  Once you had exhausted all possible options you end up caving and yelling those all to familiar words “MOM!!!!!”  After a few moments you would hear “What?” from the kitchen as she was slaving away, making dinner, doing the dishes, laundry and usually all three at the same time.  “Where is my (insert random item)?”  Then you would hear the footsteps as she trodded up the stairs or down the hall, straight to your room.  Into the closet she would go and within a matter of seconds she was there handing you the item you just knew was nowhere to be found.  Lets be honest here, it may have even been hiding behind the stack of old backpacks still stuck in your closet, but she knew, she knew exactly where it was.  Magic I tell you, it’s simply magic.  You would ask her how she knew where it was and you always got the response “I just do.”

Truth is, I never had a single clue how she found anything.  It always seemed like a mystery to me.  My mother was like the Houdini of finding missing articles of clothing or missing pages of homework.  She had to have some sort of super mom radar or something.  That was the only way I knew how to explain it.

Well this morning, while getting ready for work my husband knocks on the bathroom door yelling, “honey do you know where my long johns are for work?”  Without any hesitation, I said “Yes, they are folded up and laying on the drier under the second pair of pants.”  WAIT A SECOND…How do I know this?  That is exactly what crossed my mind.  I immediately thought of all the times I had yelled, “MOM!!!  Where are my pants?” , “MOM!!!  Where is my light blue shirt with the black dots on the front?”  “MOM!!!  Where is the needle in the haystack?”  Seriously, that woman knows everything, I’m telling you she does.  I took a moment, standing in the bathroom putting on my make up and I thought.

The older I get the more I realize how much work goes in to keeping up a household.  It is hard, very hard.  It takes a lot of time and effort to do all of those things for which I always took for granted when I was living at home and watching someone else do it.  My mom, while maybe not having some sort of cool radar system in her brain knew where things were because she took care of everything.  She took care of me, she washed my clothes, she put things away, she fed me, she made my bed and the list goes on and on.  She knew where things were because she took the time to pay attention.  Knowing that there would come the all too familiar “MOM!!!” yell from the top of stairs.  I started to understand this morning that when you are taking care of your household you learn everything about it.  You learn the routines and the way it operates because you are the one in charge of making sure it runs smoothly.  It is no easy task.  More work goes into it than you realize, until you are the one doing it.

What I’m saying is that none of us should neglect to remember all the things that are done for us.  Lucky as I was to have “super mom” and “super dad” I never appreciated them and what they did for me on a daily basis as much as I should have.  They were always there to watch over me, protect me and take care of me.  I also know that having that moment when you say, “I sound just like my mother,” is probably the greatest compliment you could ever give to yourself.