Moms are always special

Mothers—Aren’t they darlings?

I never understood my own mother, till I became a mom. When I was expecting my first child, I had absolutely no clue what it all involved. As I went from stage to stage, realization dawned on me for the first time, that this is exactly what my mother must have gone through, when she was having me. My respect for her increased hundredfold. Instantly.

When I was in college and she worried about me when I got home late, I used to laugh at her concern and tell her not be paranoid. When my own two, started going to school, I understood exactly why she worried.

When she used to proudly tell her close friends about my achievements in sports as well as academics, I used to be embarrassed and insist that she should NOT talk about me. Now that I have my own children, I know just how much it must have meant to her.

When she used to stay up the whole night, just because I had a fever, I used to tell her to stop being fussy, and it was only a fever, for God’s sake. Now, when the slightest cough, from one of my kids wakes me and I am at their bedside, in a jiffy, I understand why my mom could not sleep.

I had got this in an email forward and I could so relate to it---as all mothers can, I guess.

You Know You're a Mom When... You count the sprinkles on each kid's cupcake to make sure they're equal. You find yourself cutting your husbands' sandwiches into cute shapes. You can't bear to give away baby clothes - it's so final. You stop criticizing the way your mother raised you. You hire a sitter because you haven't been out with your husband in ages, then spend half the night checking on the kids. You have time to shave only one leg at a time. You hide in the bathroom to be alone. Your kid throws up and you catch it. Someone else's kid throws up at a party. You keep eating. You use your own saliva to clean your child's face. You've mastered the art of placing large quantities of pancakes and eggs on a plate without anything touching. You cling to the high moral ground on toy weapons; your child chews his toast into the shape of a gun. You hope ketchup is a vegetable, since it's the only one your child eats. Your feet stick to the kitchen floor, and you don't care. You no longer object to cold pizza for breakfast. Your purse is crammed with emergency toys, candy and first aid supplies. You can talk on the phone, pack a lunch & breast feed all once. You wonder why it was you ever feared being alone. You spend an entire week wearing sweats. You can remove chewing gum from just about anything. You say at least once a day, "I'm not cut out for this job", but you know you wouldn't trade it for anything.

The older one gets, the more one realizes how precious these relationships are and how short life really is. Many a time, you don’t realize the value of what you have, till you lose it. (click here for a detailed explanation)

My mom lives in Kerala, which is about 1200 kilometers, from where I live. I speak to my mom every single day. Sometimes, several times—just a short call to tell her that I am thinking of her and I love her. Today too, I did—but today is special, because it is her birthday.

Happy birthday, Mom! When I reach your age, if I am half as pretty as you and half as courageous as you, and I do half as good a job as you did in raising your kids (wink!) I would truly be thrilled!