As Mother's Day approaches, a salute to the ones doing the really hard job.

As a Mom, I don't have it that hard. I have a husband who takes on 50% of the load.  Sometimes more than 50% and that makes all the difference. 

I saw a woman write on a parenting blog that her husband, the father of their children, doesn't do dirty diapers.  Excuse me? Isn't that part of the fathering?  You don't get to opt in or out of certain parenting duties. The diapers, the spitup, the crying, the tantrums, the boo-boos, the trips to the doctor and the emergency room you get all of those, there's no cafeteria plan with children. 

But I know there are some women who are doing it alone.  Either because there is no father in the picture or the father that is there is a non-factor.  These women who are working one or two or three jobs, staying up at night because their child is sick and still manage to put a smile on their face -  I am in awe of you.

I tell Joe weekly I don't know how I would do it without him.  I just couldn't.  In this day and age, marriage and children are a partnership between the husband and wife.  You are both running a company in essence, that needs time and attention and care. It's not romantic, but neither is a crying child with 103 degree fever at 2:00 am and flooding in your basement and bills from medical specialists and the realization that neither of you have gotten to the grocery store and you're out of toilet paper, completely.  It makes those times when you can be romantic, that much more special. 

If you are a Mom struggling to get your husband to help more, try leaving him alone for a weekend with the kids and the house.  I remember my Mom did that once when she was getting fed up with my Dad not helping enough. Off she went to her sister's house in Pittsburgh.  We ate McDonalds for breakfast, lunch and dinner...my brother, sister and I thought it was great.  My Dad, I'm pretty sure, did not. I think she got her point across. 

My father admits freely that he did not help the way he should have when we were kids. It took 30 years of marriage and raising three kids for him to change his ways.  Miraculously they are still married.

  My Mom didn't let me cry through the night until I was almost 2 years old.  Which translates into she didn't get to sleep through the night for almost two years after I was born.  No wonder I was the last kid they had.

So thank you to all the Moms out there and especially to my Mom for everything. Now that I'm a mother, I realize how much you gave ... and are still giving. Happy Mother's Day