Eli.

Early Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there.

This one was forwarded to me.

So, we had this great 10 year old cat named Jack who just recently died.
Jack was a great cat and the kids would carry him around and sit on him
and nothing ever bothered him. He used to hang out and nap all day long on
this mat in our bathroom.

Well, we have 3 kids and at the time of this story they were 4 years old,
3 years old and 1 year old. The middle one is Eli. Eli really loves
chapstick. LOVES it. He kept asking to use my chapstick and thenlosing it.
So finally one day I showed him where in the bathroom I keep my chapstick
and how he could use it whenever he wanted to but he
needed to put it right back in the drawer when he was done.

Last year on Mother's Day, we were having the typical rush around and try
to get ready for Church with everyone crying and carrying on. My two boys
are fighting over the toy in the cereal box. I am trying to nurse my
little one at the same time I am putting on my make-up. Everything is a
mess and everyone has long forgotten that this is a wonderful day to honor
me and the amazing job that is motherhood.

We finally have the older one and the baby loaded in the car and I
am looking for Eli. I have searched everywhere and I finally round the
corner to go into the bathroom. And there was Eli. He was applying my
chapstick very carefully to Jack's . . rear end. Eli looked right into my
eyes and said "chapped." Now if you have a cat, you know that he is
right--their little butts do look pretty chapped. And, frankly, Jack
didn't seem to mind.

And the only question to really ask at that point was whether it was the
FIRST time Eli had done that to the cat's behind or the hundredth. And
THAT is my favorite Mother's Day moment ever because it reminds us that no
matter how hard we try to civilize these glorious little creatures, there
will always be that day when you realize they've been
using your chapstick on the cat's butt.