Holy Crap! I am a Mother!

I just realized I am a mother. You might find that odd. And you should because I have been a mother for 16 years. Why the realization? Because I just spent the last 40 or so hours doing the same thing my mother used to do.. What is that you ask? Well, on top of that list is more of the canning... You know-the bottling, preserving, old-people crap. Got a bushel of peaches and went to town, just like my mom used to (and still does-she's freakin' crazy!). Only to be honest, I am quite sure my mom would do at least 3 bushel of peaches in the time it took for me to figure out what the crap pectin is used for. So, I once again spent the day on my feet, making my floor and every other surface in my kitchen sticky. I burned my hand twice, stuck my paring knife in my finger at least 6 times, pulled a hamstring lifting my boxes, not to mention I almost peed my pants because-- heaven forbid!-- I take my eyes of my steamer for even one second (Mom, you taught me well, "make sure it is steaming about 6 inches...no more! no less!!") I think maybe I swore, but it was not a young person swear word, it was an AARP swear work, probably a

damn

or a

bloody hell

Nothing racy, just an exclamation of my old-person frustration with the way my jam was setting up or the disgust as I found yet another bruise in a seemingly perfect peach. You know, the things that upset us mothers who have really become mothers. I find it a bit ironic that I feel a bit more like a mother after today, because as I canned, I did very little mothering. What mothering I did do, was from a distance...

"Don't jump on the couch at least not right after eating!"

"Don't brush Sophie's bum hole with that comb!!"

"We aren't eating lunch today, unless you can reach the goldfish crackers!"

"Sadie, I can't wipe you! Can you wipe your sister, Luke?"

"Maddie, could you do pick up Cafe Rio for dinner?"

Somehow, I don't think this was my best day as a mother. But, I feel so much more on the road to being like my mom.. a shriveled, arthritic woman who is bitter about the world and all of the fruit in it just needing to be canned. I love you, mom. Really, I do.