When the Lord was creating mothers, He was into His sixth day of "overtime" when the angel appeared, and said, "You're doing a lot of fiddling around on this one."

The angel shook her head slowly and said "Six Pairs of hands?.... no way."

"Its not the hands that are causing me problems," said the Lord. "It's those three pairs of eyes that mothers have."

"Is that on the standard model?" asked the angel?

The Lord nodded His head. "one pair that sees through closed doors when she asks, 'what are you kids doing in there?' when she already knows. Another here in the back of her head that sees what she shouldn't, but what she has to know, and of course the ones here in front that can look at a child when he goofs up and says, 'I understand and I love you' without so much as utttering a word."

"Lord" said the angel touching his sleeve gently, "come to bed Tomorrow...."

"I can't" said the Lord, "I'm so close to creating something so close to myself. Already I have one who heals herself when she is sick...can feed a family of six on one pound of hamburger...and can get a nine year old to stand under a shower.

The angel circled the model of a mother very slowly, "It's too soft." she sighed.

"But tough!" said the Lord excitedly. "you can not imagine what this mother can do or endure...."

The angel then ask, "can she think?"

Not only think, but she can reason and compromise," said the Creator.

Finally the angel bent over and ran a finger across the cheek, "There's a leak," she pronounced. "I told you, you were trying to put too much into this model."

"It's not a leak," said the Lord, "It's a tear."

"It's for joy, sadness, pain, disappointment, loneliness, and pride."

"Lord, You are a genius," said the angel.

~by Erma Bombeck~

You are listening to "Candle in the Wind" by Elton John

Louisville, KY