What is a Mother?

Somewhere between the youthful energy of a teenager and the golden years of a woman’s life, there lives a marvelous and loving person known as "Mother." A mother is a curious mixture of patience, kindness, understanding, discipline, industriousness, purity and love. A mother can be at one and the same time, both "lovelorn counselor" to a heartsick daughter, and "head soccer coach" to an athletic son.

A mother can sew the tiniest stitch in the material for that dainty prom dress, and she is equally experienced in threading through the heaviest traffic with a station wagon or van. A mother is the only creature on earth that can cry when she’s happy, laugh when she’s heartbroken, and work when she’s feeling ill. A mother is as gentle as a lamb and as strong as a giant. Only a mother can appear so weak and helpless and yet be the same one who puts the fruit jar cover on so tightly even Dad can’t get it off. A mother is a picture of helplessness when Dad is near and a marvel of resourcefulness when she’s all alone. A mother has the angelic voice of a member in the celestial choir as she sings Brahm’s lullaby to a babe held tight in her arms; yet this same voice can dwarf the sound of an amplifier when she calls her boys in for supper or cheers them on at a game. A mother has the fascinating ability to be almost everywhere at once, and she alone can somehow squeeze and enormous amount of living into an average day. A mother is "old-fashioned" to her teenager, just "Mom" to her third-grader; and simple "Mama" to little two-year-old sister. But there is hardly a thrill in life that can compete to pointing to that wonderful woman and be able to say to all the world, "That’s my mother!"

Source: Frederick E. Kruse

Magnetic

A teacher gave her class of second graders a lesson on the magnet and what it does. The next day in a written test, she included this question: “My full name has six letters. The first one is M, and I pick up things. What am I?” When the grades were all in the teacher was astounded to find that almost fifty percent had written in "MOTHER."

Contributor: Preston Duvall

Mother's Day: What NOT to Buy Your Wife

Although the only person a man usually shops for is his wife, the whole experience is a stressful one. Many a man has felt extreme frigid temperatures for a long period based on a poor present decision. As a veteran of these wars, I’m still not sure what to buy my wife, but I’ll pass on what NOT to buy her:

1. Don’t buy anything that plugs in. Anything that requires electricity is seen as utilitarian.
   
2. Don’t buy clothing that involves sizes. The chances are one in seven thousand that you will get her size right, and your wife will be offended the other 6999 times. "Do I look like a size 16?" she’ll say. Too small a size doesn’t cut it either: "I haven’t worn a size 8 in 20 years!"
   
3. Avoid all things useful. The new silver polish advertised to save hundreds of hours is not going to win you any brownie points.
   
4. Don’t buy anything that involves weight loss or self-improvement. She’ll perceive a six-month membership to a diet center as a suggestion that’s she’s overweight.
   
5. Don’t buy jewelry. The jewelry your wife wants, you can’t afford. And the jewelry you can afford, she doesn’t want.
   
6. And guys, do not fall into the traditional trap of buying her frilly underwear. Your idea of the kind your wife should wear and what she actually wears are light years apart.
   
7. Finally, don’t spend too much. "How do you think we’re going to afford that?" she’ll ask. But don’t spend too little. She won’t say anything, but she’ll think, "Is that all I’m worth?"
   
   Source: Herb Forst, Reader’s Digest

A Noble Career

There is no career more noble than that of motherhood at its best. There are no possibilities greater and in no other sphere does failure bring more serious penalties. To attempt this task unprepared and untrained is tragic, and its results affect generations to come. On the other hand, there is no higher height to which humanity can attain than that occupied by a converted, heaven-inspired, praying mother.

Source: Anon 19th century