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WITandWISDOM(tm) - May 12, 2006 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: It is well go give when asked But it is better to give unasked, through understanding. - Kahlil Gibrans Source: Carol's Thought for Today, http://users.adelphia.net/~mrs.carol ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: The Easiest Part Of Being A Mother Is Giving Birth By Erma Bombeck For the first four or five years after I had children, I considered motherhood a temporary condition—not a calling. It was a time of my life set aside for exhaustion and long hours. It would pass. Then one afternoon with three kids in tow, I came out of the supermarket pushing a cart (with four wheels that went in opposite directions) when my toddler son got away from me. Just outside the door, he ran toward a machine holding bubble gum in a glass dome. In a voice that shattered glass, he shouted, "Gimme! Gimme!" I told him I would gimme him what-for if he didn't stop shouting and get in the car. As I physically tried to pry his body from around the bubble gum machine, he pulled the entire thing over. Glass and balls of bubble gum went all over the parking lot. We had now attracted a crowd. Donna Reed would have brushed away his tears and granted him absolution on the spot. I wasn't Donna Reed. I told him he would never see another cartoon as long as he lived, and if he didn't control his temper he was going to be making license plates for the state. He tried to stifle his sobs as he looked around at the staring crowd. Then he did something that I was to remember the rest of my life. In his helpless quest for comfort, he turned to the only one he trusted his emotions with—me. He threw his arms around my knees and held on for dear life. I had humiliated him, chastised him and berated him, but I was still all he had. That single incident defined my role. I was a major force in this child's life. Sometimes we forget how important stability is to a child. I've always told mine, "The easiest part of being a mother is giving birth. The hardest part is showing up for it each day." This is traditionally the day when children give something back to their mothers for all the spit they produced to wash dirty faces, all the old gum their mothers held in their hands, all the noses and fannies that were wiped, and all the bloody knees that were " made well" with a kiss. This is the day mothers are rewarded for washing all those sheets in the middle of the night, driving kids to school when they missed the bus and enduring all the football games in the rain. It's appreciation day for making them finish something, not believing them when they said, "I hate you," and for sharing their good times and their bad times. Their cards probably won't reflect it, but what they are trying to say is "Thank you for showing up." By Erma Bombeck, "Being a Mom Means You Have to Show Up," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 05-09-1993, pp 12C. Source: Weekend Encounter, by Dick Innes, Copyright (c) ACTS International, 2004, http://www.actsweb.org/subscribe.htm ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: Little children can come up with some very interesting ideas. Listen to what some children wrote to their mothers for Mother’s Day. Angie, 8 years old, wrote: "Dear Mother, I’m going to make dinner for you on Mother’s Day. It’s going to be a surprise. P.S. I hope you like pizza & popcorn." Robert wrote: "I got you a turtle for Mother’s Day. I hope you like the turtle better than the snake I got you last year." Eileen wrote: "Dear Mother, I wish Mother’s Day wasn’t always on Sunday. It would be better if it were on Monday so we wouldn’t have to go to school." Little Diane wrote: "I hope you like the flowers I got you for Mother’s Day. I picked them myself when Mr. Smith wasn’t looking." And how about this one from Carol? "Dear Mother, Here are two aspirins. Have a happy Mother’s Day!" Source: SermonCentral Weekly Newsletter, http://www.sermoncentral.com/newsletter_subscribe.asp ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: "Another way to solve the traffic problems of this country is to pass a law that only paid-for cars be allowed to use the highways." - Will Rogers Submitted by Lorraine ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: Today's useless fact - Is it actually possible to catch a disease from a toilet seat? Toilet seats are not major culprits in spreading diseases. If you have an open sore on your bottom it's probably more likely, but in that case you'd be at risk in any public place. You can't get a sexually transmitted disease from a toilet seat, especially AIDS. The AIDS virus can't survive exposure to the air. The best thing to do if you think a toilet seat is yucky is to wipe it off with toilet tissue, then flush the tissue down before using the toilet. Then wash your hands after using the facility because there are still germs on the flush handle, and definitely the sink, doorknob, etc. It's your hands that come in contact with your eyes, nose, and mouth, which are open doors into your body. Keeping the hands clean is vital. In a public bathroom, it's a good idea not to touch the faucet to turn off the water, or the doorknob to leave, after you wash your hands. This is especially true if you are at a restaurant and cleaning up before you eat. Doorknobs are dirty things. Consider keeping the towels in your hands not only after you dry them, but when turning off the water and when opening the door as well. I'm always glad to see that a public restroom has a door that can be opened from the inside with just a push. And don't touch your face with your hands! Especially when using a public telephone! Submitted by The Factmaster