Just this morning, I read (for maybe the hundreth time!) "Horton Hatches the Egg" to Claire. It's a classic Dr. Seuss tale of an lazy bird who delegates her egg-sitting job to Horton the elephant. He faithfully warms the egg, enduring many difficulties while Mayzie the bird lives it up in Palm Beach. She returns just as the egg is hatching to reclaim it. To everyone's surprise, the baby that emerges from the egg is "something brand new"--it's an "elephant-bird" complete with large ears and a trunk!

Dr. Seuss asserts, "And it should be, it should be, it SHOULD be like that!
Because Horton was faithful! He sat and he sat!"

As we celebrate Mother's Day this weekend, I thought of my mother's faithfulness to me and my sister for the past 30 years. She had a much tougher job than just sitting on an egg, yet she didn't delegate it to another. She embraced her role as mother and sacrificed to spend as much time with us as possible. I have memories of picnics, trips to the library, and homemade apple pies. There were walks around the neighborhood at dusk, endless board games, and heart-to-heart talks. She was like Horton: "Faithful--one hundred per cent!"

A poem she cross-stitched to hang on the wall in my nursery describes her perfectly:

I hope my children will look back on today
And see a mother who had time to play.
There will be years for cleaning and cooking
But children grow up while we're not looking.
Dusting and scrubbing can wait 'till tomorrow
For babies grow fast we learn to our sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs and dust go to sleep
I'm rocking my baby, and babies don't keep.


Claire giggled with delight when I read about Horton seeing his little one for the first time.


"IT HAD EARS
AND A TAIL
AND A TRUNK JUST LIKE HIS!"

Dr. Seuss was definitely on to something. Only when a mother sacrificially invests her life in her child will she have a great influence on the person he becomes.

Someone once said, "The greatest compliment anyone could give me is to say, 'You remind me so much of your mother.'" If I am just a shadow of the woman my mother is, I know Claire will be very blessed.

I want to be just like my momma: "faithful--one hundred per cent!"

I love you, Mom! Happy Mother's Day!