THE CREATION OF MOTHERS   

While the Good Lord was creating mothers, He was well into his sixth day of overtime. Then an angel appeared and said. "You're doing a lot of fiddling around on this one!"   

And the Lord said, "Have you read the specifications of this order?  She has to be completely washable, but not plastic...Have 180 movable parts, all replaceable..Run on black coffee and leftovers...have a lap that disappears when she stands up... and a kiss that can cure anything from a broken leg to a disappointed love affair.  Plus she has to have six pairs of hands!"   

The angel shook her head slowly and said, "Six pairs of hands!!??  Not possible!"   

"Oh, it's not the hands that are causing Me the problem," said the Lord. "It's the three pairs of eyes that mothers have to have."

 "That's on the standard model?", asked the angel.   

The Lord nodded.  "One pair that sees through closed doors when she asks, 'What are you kids doing in there?' when she already knows...Another pair on the back of her head that sees what she shouldn't, but what she has to know...And of course, the ones here in the front that can look at a child and reflect, 'I understand, and I love you' without so much as saying a word."   "Lord," said the angel touching His sleeve gently, "Get some rest.  Finish this tomorrow."   

"I can't," answered the Lord.  "I'm so close to creating something so close to Myself. Already I have one that heals herself when she's sick...can feed a family of six on one pound of hamburger...and can get a nine-year-old to stand under a shower."   

The angel circled the model of the mother very slowly and sighed, "But it's too soft!"   

"And yet she's tough!" said the Lord excitedly. "You cannot imagine what the mother can handle or do!"  

"Can it think?" asked the angel.   

"Not only think, but it can reason and compromise!" answered the Creator.   

Finally the angel bent over and ran her fingers across the mother's cheek. "There's a leak!" she pronounced.  "I told You, You were trying to put too much in this model! You can't ignore the stress factor."  

The Lord moved in closer for a look and gently lifted the drop of moisture to His finger where it glistened and sparkled in the light. "It's not a leak," He said.  :;"It's a tear."   

"A tear?" asked the angel.  "What's it for?"   

"It's for Joy, Sadness, Disappointment, Compassion, Pain, Loneliness, and Pride."   

And the angel exclaimed, "You're a genius!"   

The Lord looked somber and replied, "I didn't put it there."

Close your eyes and wish for the one thing
You cannot do without, and when you do,
Near your heart you'll find it, always there,
Treasure that is dear but not so rare,
Held in the mesh that all your dreams flow through.
In truth, no gift more happiness can bring,
And so this day I give my love to you.

Maybe love put sunshine in your heart,
Using light to leaven your long day.
Maybe it was hard, but from the start,
'Twixt blight and bloom the sunshine had its way.
Sing, then, of mother's love, and your delight
Descended down to me, that I might be
Alive with sunshine, bountiful and bright,
Yet yearning still for what you gave to me.

Grandmothers are mothers who are grand,
Restoring the sense that our most precious things
Are those that do not change much over time.
No love of childhood is more sublime,
Demanding little, giving on demand,
More inclined than most to grant the wings
On which we fly off to enchanted lands.
Though grandmothers must serve as second mothers,
Helping out with young and restless hearts,
Each has all the patience wisdom brings,
Remembering our passions more than others,
Soothing us with old and well-honed arts.