When God Created Mothers by Erma Bombeck

I read this story by Erma Bombeck long back in “Chicken soup for mother’s souls” and just felt like sharing it here today. I might not have exactly copy pasted her words in narrating the story, but that doesn’t matter as long as the meaning and message of the story is clear to you! Read and enjoy:

When God decided to create mothers, he had a tough time in the beginning looking at the demands the model required. It was already his sixth day of overtime, when the angels appeared and said - "You are doing a lot of fiddling around on this one."

And the Lord said - "Have you read the specifications on this order?"

"She has to be completely washable, but not plastic;

Have 180 movable parts...all replaceable;

Run on black coffee and leftovers;

Have a lap that disappears when she stands up;

A kiss that can cure anything from a broken leg to a disappointed love affair;

And six pair of hands."

The angel shook her head slowly and said - "Six pairs of hands? No way."

"It is not the hands that are creating problems for me.", said the Lord in a serious voice.

"It is the three pair of eyes that mothers need to have."

"Is that on the standard model?” asked the angel shockingly.

The Lord nodded and said - "One pair to see through the closed doors when she'd ask ‘What are you kids doing in there?’, when she already knows. The second pair in the back of her head to see what she shouldn't but needs to know, and the usual ones in front so that she can see the child who says - "I understand and I love you, without so much as uttering a word."

"Dear Lord!", said the angel touching his sleeve gently, "You can take some rest and go to bed now. Tomorrow - "

"I can't", said the Lord, "I am so close to creating something, which is so close to myself. I've already made her capable enough to heal herself when she is sick, able to feed a family of six on a single bun and the power to comfort everyone right from a six year old child to a sixty year old guy."

The angel quietly touched the unfinished model and slowly said - "It is too soft."

"But tough!", said the Lord excitedly. "You can not imagine what mothers can take and endure. Her tolerance is set to the maximum level."

"Can it think?"

"Indeed yes, and can reason and compromise as well.”, said the Lord.

The angel then bent over the model and ran her finger across the cheek, “There is a leak", she said, "I told you, you were trying too much efforts on this particular model."

"It is not a leak", said the Lord grimly, "But a tear."

"What is it for?"

"It is for the joy, disappointment, pain, pride, sadness, loneliness and triumph of her kids."

"Wow!! You are a genius!”, said the angel thoroughly impressed.

The Lord looked gloomy at this and said - "I didn't make her that."