Signs of Motherhood

My boys and I

• A beautiful bouquet of weeds perches on your window sill.
• Your service for sixteen contains seven plates and 11 bowls.
• Someone asks your age, and your mind blanks. But you can recall to the minute when each child was born.
• After sharing your drinking glass, it resembles a miniture aquarium.
• Your dress sleeve doubles as a kleenex box.
• Eating out is a hot dog roast.
• You don't want a dishwasher-you already have five!
• Your dryer seems to be a Bermuda Triange for socks.
• You risk waking your sleeping baby just to kiss her soft little cheek.
• The display on your coffee table may include a dead mouse.
• "Can a moth burb?" is the sort of mind-stumping question you face daily.
• You know how to sanitize a pacifier with out turning on the faucet.
• After washing the kitchen floor, you keep returning just to admire it.
• Your diaper bag is your purse.
• You love the smell of your baby's neck.
• Smudgy handprints on the window sill are a form of art for your guests to enjoy.
• Being gone for a few hours makes you homesick.
• There are never enough Band-aids in the cupboard.
• Mooing like a cow facilitates the opening of little mouths at mealtime.
• You wonder why it took so long to comb your hair when you were a teenager.
• You're the only overheated person when the family sits down to Sunday dinner.
• After the children are sleeping, you return to their bedsides to kiss a soft cheek or stroke back some curls, and silently thank the Lord for making you the richest woman alive.

Dianna Overholt