The Exhausting, Exhilarating World of Motherhood

When I hear Oprah say, "Being a mother is the hardest job on earth," it feels good . . . good enough to make me cry. As a thirty-five year veteran in this business, I have lots of proof to back up her statement. Being a mother IS the hardest job on earth. It’s also the best one.

Motherhood is a profession of extremes. It’s the oldest job on earth . . . as old as Cain and Abel. It’s also the newest . . . as new as the newest infant born today.

It’s the most exhausting job on earth . . . as exhausting as caring for a colicky baby and two preschoolers with chicken pox. It’s the most exhilarating job on earth . . . as exhilarating as watching a son score several three-pointers in a basketball game.

It’s the most stressful job on earth . . . as stressful as having a stranger call to say your child is being rushed to a hospital with chest pains in a faraway city. It’s the most calming job on earth . . . as calming as hearing your child play "Blackbird" on his guitar.

It’s the most heart-wrenching job on earth . . . as heart-wrenching as having an angry teenager storm out the door and drive off into the night. It’s the most heart-warming job on earth . . .as heart-warming as when your child comes back home.

It’s the saddest job on earth . . . as sad as having a miscarriage. It’s the happiest job on earth . . . as happy as hearing the words, "It’s a girl!"

It’s the most maddening job on earth . . . as maddening as discovering that your child found a box of matches and burned all the yarn tassels off the quilt his grandmother tied. It’s the most gladdening job on earth . . . as gladdening as knowing that through some miracle, the house didn’t burn down with your child in it.

It’s the most prideful job on earth . . . as prideful as hearing your daughter and her husband sing a lovely duet. It’s the most humbling job on earth . . . as humbling as answering the phone at 3:00 a.m. to have a policeman ask if you know where your son is.

It’s the most mundane job on earth . . . as mundane as figuring out "What’s for dinner?" for the 4,000th time in a row. It’s the most adventurous job on earth . . . as adventurous as trying to get to sleep while being sandwiched between two squirrelly grandchildren in a sleeping bag.

It’s the most stressful job on earth . . . as stressful as having a child wet his pants on the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride at Disneyland. It’s the most encouraging job on earth . . . as encouraging as having a tall, handsome son put his long arms around you and refer to you as "my little Mommy."

It’s the most sorrowful job on earth . . . as sorrowful as realizing that I still make mistakes. It’s the most joyful job on earth . . . as joyful as knowing my children still love me anyway.