Before I Became A Mom

In 2011 at my print shop I had the privilege of typesetting this for a Mom,

who wanted to gift it to her children.

I asked her if I could share it.

Here it is again.  Happy Mother's Day! 

Before I Became A Mom

Before I became a Mom, I never got up in the middle of the night

to wander through the house just to make sure everything was alright.

I never had to stay up late at night to make sure everybody

in the house was asleep before I could go to bed and go to sleep.

I never had to get up in the middle of the night just because someone else was awake and crying

because they were hungry, thirsty, wet, cold, hot, hurting, sick, scared or just lonely.

I never had to watch my every step to keep from tripping over

toys, books, tricycles, dogs, cats or little people.

I never got in the middle of little people fighting,

pulling hair, biting, throwing things, yelling or crying.

I never had to clean up someone else’s messes.

I never worried about someone wandering and getting lost, getting hit by cars,

falling out of bed, falling out of trees, falling off rocky horses, or just falling down, drowning,

wrecking on a bicycle, getting cut, getting burned, getting stung by bees or wasps, getting sick,

getting their feelings hurt, wrecking cars, bad haircuts, choosing the right friends, doing homework,

getting someone up in the morning and to bed at night,

getting them to school or work on time ----- making sure they even went to school!

I never had to worry about how many people would be there for supper

or if maybe anyone would be there.

I never had to pull someone’s tooth, get chewing gum out of their hair,

shampoo out of their eyes, or beans out of their nose.

I never had to scrape slugs off little feet, hold someone down so that a doctor could set a broken bone,

or wash someone’s mouth out with soap (or vinegar) for using bad language.

I never had to worry about lost cats or dogs.

I never had to wash cats or dogs or birds.

I never had to drink Kool-Aid.

I never had to sit up late at night to make sure no one walked in their sleep

and walked right on out of the house.

I never had to sell Girl Scout cookies.

I never had a fight with a neighbor, or an ice cream man.

I never had threatened to hurt a child!!!

I never had the pure joy of rocking my own child to sleep.

I never had experienced the pleasure of helping my own child learn

to crawl, walk, talk, jump, brush their teeth, wash their hands, say their prayers, whistle,

tie their shoes, read, play a game, catch lightening bugs, fly June bugs, shuffle cards,

cut out paper dolls, build model cars, change Barbie doll clothes, play jacks, jump rope,

play hop-scotch, recite a poem, or count to ten.

I had never known that you could make a hurt go away with a simple kiss on the hurt place.

I never had known how happy a hug, a kiss, and an

“I love you, Mama” could make me feel. (and it still does)!!!

All that was “Before I Became A Mom.”

Now that I am one, I thank God he saw fit to make me a Mom!!!

We may have had a few tough moments through the years, but we got through them.

Thank You for hanging in there with me!!

I’m so proud of who you’ve turned out to be and if I could take any credit at all, it would be that

“I LOVED YOU INTO IT!!”

All My Love Always, Keith