Try not to cry when you read this!
Why My Lips Stayed Chapped on Mother’s Day
So, we had this great 10 year old cat named Jack who just recently died. Jack was a great cat and the kids would carry him around and sit on him and nothing ever bothered him. He used to hang out and nap all day long on this mat in our bathroom.
Well we have 3 kids and at the time of this story they were 4 years old, 3 years old and 1 year old. The middle one is Eli. Eli really loves chapstick. LOVES it. He kept asking to use my chapstick and then losing it. So finally one day I showed him where in the bathroom I keep my chapstick and how he could use it whenever he wanted to but he needed to put it right back in the drawer when he was done.
Last year on Mother’s Day, we were having the typical rush around and try
to get ready for Church with everyone crying and carrying on. My two boys
are fighting over the toy in the cereal box. I am trying to nurse my little
one at the same time I am putting on my make-up. Everything is a mess and
everyone has long forgotten that this is a wonderful day to honor me and
the amazing job that is motherhood.
We finally have the older one and the baby loaded in the car and I am
looking for Eli. I have searched everywhere and I finally round the corner
to go into the bathroom. And there was Eli. He was applying my chapstick
very carefully to Jack’s . . . rear end. Eli looked right into my eyes and
said “chapped.” Now if you have a cat, you know that he is right — their
little bottoms do look pretty chapped. And, frankly, Jack didn’t seem to
mind.
And the only question to really ask at that point was whether it was the
FIRST time Eli had done that to the cat’s behind or the hundredth.
And THAT is my favorite Mother’s Day moment ever because it reminds
us that no matter how hard we try to civilize these glorious little creatures,
there will always be that day when you realize they’ve been using your
chapstick on the cat’s butt.