Mom knows best!

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Why is it that moms get all the crappy jobs? I mean that quite literally.

Take for example the other night when my dog (I’ll call her my dog because despite the fact my husband brought her home for our young daughter to learn responsibility, I feed, water, bathe, groom and deal with all issues dog related.) had an accident in the garage.

She’s never done that so I know that she wasn’t trying to send me a message, just that she had to go and no one let her out in time.

My husband discovered the “gift” so he opened the garage door to let it air out. 

My daughter pinched her nose and bypassed the pile. She then politely tells me that I would have to clean it up. This coming from the 16-year-old who wants to be a doctor, possibly a surgeon that cuts on people and is often up to their elbows in people’s blood and guts.

“Why do I have to clean it up?” I asked.

“Well, because you’re the mom and that’s what moms do,” she answered.

I’ve been mulling that ever since and it prompted me to question why is it that moms always seem to get the crappy jobs?

Not that dads don’t have things they deal with, but it’s usually the mom that changes diapers and wipes up baby spit or wears it in the young years like perfume.

It’s usually mom who is running around taking this child to soccer, another child to ballet lessons, while running a third child to band practice, all the while making a mental grocery list and organizing a bake sale for the church fundraiser.

I can usually spot a mom – it might be that glazed look in their eyes or the inside of their car that looks like a second residence. Maybe it’s the lady in line in front of you that can swat a kid’s hand from grabbing candy off the rack without even turning around.

Mom is usually the one who uses “mom spit” to grease that piece of unruly hair into place right before their angel jumps out of the car on picture day.

Mom, is also the one who doesn’t go to sleep, until the lunches are all packed for the next day or all the children are safely home.

Some moms aren’t really even mom. They are grandmas or aunts who are raising family members or sometimes mom can really be a single dad juggling both roles.

But it’s often mom who is the glue that holds it all together and that means that moms clean up the messes, even the crappy ones, just because they are mom.

Personally, I couldn’t imagine not being a mom. I often heard the saying “you won’t know how your parents felt until you become a parent” and I finally got it the day they handed me my beautiful baby girl.

Obviously, there are exceptions. 

Mother’s Day is a time to honor “whoever” has supported and loved you through the various stages, trials, triumphs and tragedies of your life.

I’m lucky because I have a mom who loves me, stands by me and is always in my corner.

She once told me “I’ll always love you, even when you are wrong.”

Thanks mom for everything. You are the best.

(Jamie Baker-Nantz is editor of the Grant County News. She can be reached at 859-824-3343 or by e-mail at j.bakernantz@fuse.net)