Moms

Don’t be alarmed by this photo. You’re looking at it and wondering if I’ve contracted my own serious illness. Or, perhaps I’m going through radiation and I just don’t want to burden you with the bad news. No, trust me, I would definitely burden you.

No, what you see here is me wondering if it’s possible to be juiced and smoothied to death. I googled it and I don’t see much evidence that this has happened before. But, I think I might be the first case. Holy duece, this is exhausting. I actually dream about vegetables.

Right now this is Eddie’s protocol:

Veggie/fruit/avocado/protein mix smoothie morning and night
3 glasses of vegetable juice/day
5 drops of vitamin D
5 other supplements
1 tsp of another powder (to be explained at a later date) in water 2x/day

Eddie also takes a lot of detox baths, which I am very happy to say that I do NOT have to remind him to do. I guess they just feel THAT good.

Between buying vegetables, washing them, making them into drinks and then cleaning the 47 parts on the blender and juicer (did I mention our dishwasher is broken?), I’ve got myself a part time job – in addition to the full time one I have already. So, that’s all good, because between the three kids’ schedules, housework, career and marriage, I was getting a little bored.

I’m getting a little careless too. I’ve tried to make some juice ahead, but that doesn’t always work. Yesterday I came home and when I opened the front door I smelled sewage. Eddie immediately informed me that I was no longer allowed to make juice for him. He would make his own. He told me that he just drank something I made that tasted like I pulled it out of the toilet. Eddie is NOT fussy, but I guess draws the line at toilet water.

I don’t know what went wrong, because all my blending and juicing is just a big jumble. I can’t remember what I put into what. I do have a vague memory of myself looking at some rottenish cabbage, and thinking it would be a shame to let it go to waste. Yeah, I might have juiced that.

But, Eddie’s threat to not let me make his juice any more was just an empty promise. We can’t get that kid to deal with the hassle of shoelaces. Do you really think he’s going to take on all this tedious juicing? Eddie continues to feel better though. So, in that case, I guess I will keep all this up until the day I die. That just may be sooner than I expected.

You know I have to make jokes. That’s just what I gotta do. But I am totally serious when I tell you that moms are awesome. I know I am not doing anything any other loving mom wouldn’t do in the same situation. And loving moms are about the only kind of moms I know.

This week I saw a special mom in the grocery store. She had her adolescent, severely disabled son between her and the grocery cart. She was talking to him quietly and kindly as they chose groceries and moved slowly through the store. I could just look at him and see that he was loved and well cared for; and I didn’t ever see him let go of his mom’s hand.

Then, you have Emily’s mom, Traci. Emily is my daughter, Olivia’s, good friend. Emily has Noonan Syndrome, and she just had open heart surgery. This little girl has had many, many, many surgeries in her short 12 years. She is a little warrior, and we love her. We visited her in the hospital after her recent surgery. We watched Traci suction Emily’s lungs like it was as common as making toast. Watching Traci do that made me understand that she has done thousands of hard things for her family in her lifetime. She sure didn’t act like what she was doing was special, but I know the truth.

These moms and many others are an inspiration to me. You don’t see these moms walking around celebrating themselves and blogging about how hard they work, so I want to do this for them.

Nobel Peace Prize winners do not have work that is more meaningful than a mom’s. Every time we look up Ask.com for help to figure out our kids’ homework, or stay up late to make their birthday treats, or go without a new purse to pay for their piano lessons, or make sure they get breakfast, we are doing something with monumental significance. It may not be noticed, but I know it matters. It matters so much.