A Mother's Day Vignette

This is a submission to a contest (Favorite Mother’s Day Moment) from a viewer of The Ellen Show:

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.

This reminds me of a story my mother told me. Before my parents had children, they had a little fur baby (dog). One day my mother found the dog eating of all things, rabbit turds, Well, she gently scolded the dog telling her not to eat those yucky things. Well as my mom squatted down over her, the dog leaped up and gave my mom a kiss, not even quite on the lips, but more on the tongue; my mom ran inside, making funny noises while keeping her mouth open and trying not to swallow. She brushed her teeth , tongue and mouth forever trying to get rid of all the germs from our dog who had just eaten rabbit poop. Gross!

Of course, there was the time when I pooped in her hand when she was changing me and the time my brother squirted her right between the eyes and no, it wasn't with water!