So, now that I've lost all my loyal readers

(You know, due to not posting. Out of sight, out of mind!)

Really? A week and a half I've been gone? Really?

Because it doesn't feel like that long. Four, five days, tops.

I hope all you gals had a marvelous Mother's Day, whether you:

A. Are a mother,
2. Have a mother, or
D. Are a bad motha (shut yo' mouth!)

Mine was, well, it had its moments. Like the moment when I opened a card from Jason, to find the exact same gift I'd gotten my mother, an O'Charley's gift card. You know, so my mom wouldn't, as Amanda said, be trying to figure out how to feed all of us on her $25 card.

(I still don't know where or when he bought mine. I bought mom's Friday night, at Sam's. He's being sneaky!)

Or, the moment when I got into an argument with my sister over whether a 30-45 minute restaurant wait was reasonable on Mother's Day.

(For the record, we waited exactly 30 minutes for a table, which was just about how long we'd waited to eat Mexican the week before. You know, when it wasn't a holiday.)

Ahem.

Or, the moment when I got what I'd actually asked for, a pair of New Balance I'd found at Sam's for $35. They're sharp, but I'm doing the responsible thing and saving them for gym-only wearing.

Just like "they" say you should. Whoever-the-heck "they" are.

I guess the best "moment," though, was when Anna Marie handed me her obligatory handmade cards. One of which said "Thanks for being a 1st place mom!" Complete with a medal she'd drawn all by herself with my gel pens.

Because of all the words I could use to describe my job as a mother, "first place" isn't one that readily comes to mind.

The sermon at my church yesterday was entitled "Jochabed's Mothering Seminar" and focused on Moses' mom. She was a lady of great faith, and courage, but she was also a lady of great influence. She didn't just raise Moses to be a great leader, she raised Aaron and Miriam to be leaders as well. The Children of Israel were delivered out of slavery because one woman feared God more than she did Pharaoh.

We have such an awesome responsibility, and while I can look back over the past seven and a half years and see how far I've come both as a person and as a parent, I don't know if I'll ever feel like I'm doing enough.

But, does any mom, or dad, or aunt, or anyone who has influence in a child's life ever feel like they're doing enough?

I guess that like anything else in life, it's the little things - making a French Toast casserole tonight, and making sure she's brushed ALL of her teeth, and that she's done her homework - that add up to the big results.

Seeing how she'll turn out - well, that's the scary part. And the exciting part. All sorts of emotions wrapped up together.

The challenge is trying to take advantage of all the little moments in between the big moments, when all those moments seem to go by both excruciatingly slow and mind-numbingly fast at the same time.