A Little Snot Goes a Long Way

I'm so proud of my 13 year old daughter.  She got a dose of mothering the other day.  Not the babysitting experience of watching her 3 year old brother, but the dose of the unselfish, dirty job of mothering.

It was a particularly tough day for me as our family was packing up our entire household for  a big move the following weekend.  We had an impromptu appointment with some perspective residents and were thrown into that world of chaos where the entire house had to be picked up and cleaned up in under 2.5 hours.  The anxiety level was high, and I knew that having my overtired and under attended 3 year old in the home when said grown ups arrived was a bad idea.  Hence, my 13 year old daughters turn.

"Please honey, just take him on a bike ride for me," I pleaded with her.  "He loves his bike rides. I promise it will be easy.  Just go up and down our street until you see the guests leave."
With the usual roll of the eyes, thankfully she agreed and took the little guy to helmet up.

Fast forward to the time when our grown up guests have safely driven away.  In walks my disheveled 13 year old daughter.  Her arms were inside her shirt. You know, like kids do when they are freezing and they forgot their jackets? With a look of disgust and slight pride, my beautiful girl exclaimed.  "He got snot all over me!"

"What the heck?  How did that happen?" I asked.
She went on to explain how Asher had a runny nose while bike riding and started screaming for a tissue.  Not wanting to disturb us, and his screams escalating, she decided to do what all good mothers have found ourselves doing at one time or another. She told him to wipe his nose on her shirt.  I have to say, that was one extensive snot rag.  He was particularly runny that day.
With a look of pride, I congratulated her and sent her to the laundry room for a good shirt cleaning.

Several days later, I'm still thinking of what has changed in my daughter.  She is becoming a lady that I imagine will make me a very proud grandma in the future.  It's times like this where for a quick moment, I can say to myself that I must be doing something right. For a brief moment, I took off my "hard on myself hat" and put on the "proud mom hat".  The hat that knows of all the times when I have sacrificed for these 5 kids.  The times I have cleaned up their puke, wiped their snot, stayed up all night, held them when they cried,  driven 100's of miles for them, and countless other acts do get noticed. But, they get noticed in a much more graceful way than I would ever imagine.  In the pride of seeing that daughter grow up to be a momentary mother to her brother. Such beautiful grace. It's all the thanks I need.