I’m sad to say, but none the less happy to report, that I too became a true mother.  It’s never one of those moments you dream about, it’s just one of those things that was bound to happen and, of course, when you least expected it.

It started off like any other normal day.  My son was about three at the time and he had just woken up and crawled into my bed and asked for his morning sippy cup full of chocolate milk.  After I had retrieved his chocolate milk and turned on the cartoons I hurried into the bathroom to try and get my shower done before the baby woke up.  I was in and out in less than five minuets and had just gotten my underwear on when I heard my son moaning.  I walked into the room to the side of my bed where he was lying propped up on my pillows.  I asked him in a sympathetic voice ”What’s wrong honey, you don’t look like you’re feeling so good?”  He slowly started to sit up and said “Mom, I don’t feel good.”  He had just reached his knees and faced me when suddenly his whole body heaved and he threw up.  That’s when my motherly instincts must have kicked in because I dove with my hands cupped and tried to ”catch” the vomit.

Now let me ask you this . . . what person in their right mind tries to catch vomit!?!  Logically I knew that I would not be able to catch, let alone hold, a belly full of chocolate milk in my hands, but none the less I still tried.  It just seemed like the right thing to do at the time.

When he was finished emptying his stomach into my hands (and spraying my freshly cleansed body with vomit) I told him to stay right there and that I’d be right back.  To prevent myself from adding to the mess, I started to wash off my hands, my body and my face, when I caught sight of myself in the mirror.  There staring right back at me was a true mother.  A mother who had just done one of those weird mom things that you had only witnessed your own mother doing (like trying to catch kid vomit in her hands).

The whole time I cleaned up my sick little boy in the tub, changed the sheets on my bed and scrubbed the carpet I couldn’t stop thinking about how surreal and weird the whole thing was.  Sure my son had put me to the test before with nursing and diaper changes but those were all normal things to expect.  It’s the not so normal things.  The things you think you’ll never do, but that inevitably end up happening when you least expected them to.  Those are the things that really define you as a true mother.

So I’m curious, what was your truly defining motherly moment?  Did you find yourself doing any of those totally bazaar mom things you swore you’d never do?  If so please share by clicking on ’Read users comments’ below.  Thanks for sharing!  And happy mothering!

Mom number two (who is parked on the other side of the cart return) reaches into her purse and pushes her key fob buttons and both side doors and the back door of her minivan gently glide open while her two girls hop in.  She then climbs in, out of the rain and buckles them in.  Then she gets out and shuts both doors with her key fob and proceeds to unload her groceries into the back of the van all the while nice and dry under the cover of the door.  She then takes the cart to the cart return while the back door of the minivan glides shut with the push of the key fob button.  She then gets in her minivan, barely wet, and drives away in half the time it took mom number one.

And that’s when it hit me.  I was the wet and tired mom number one who had just been trumped by a mom with a minivan.  She had buckled in kids, unloaded groceries and was driving away while I still had my butt hanging out in the rain as I packed another grocery bag into the trunk of my car.  I had gone from one side of my car, to the other, then to the trunk, and then back to the other side and in the end I had opened and shut four doors and a trunk.  Really she had opened and shut only one door, her own.  The rest were opened for her by her key fob, like a little remote chauffer always ready with the door.

I swore I would never drive a minivan; it was just so un-cool to me.  But as I stood there in the rain watching her drive away I couldn’t help but think that ‘yeah the minivan was un-cool, but the key fob rocked!’

When it finally came time for us to get a, new-to-us, used vehicle I didn’t care about any other feature but the key fob.  It could have been the biggest, ugliest piece of crap but it had to have a key fob.  Sure enough I ended up with an “un-cool” minivan, but I got my key fob, and let me tell you, it hasn’t disappointed me yet.  I love my key fob.

So for all of you moms out there going through the big debate, weighing your options, car vs. minivan or SUV vs. minivan, cool vs. un-cool.  Let me tell you, nothing is cooler than having your own personal remote chauffer opening your doors for you as you make a mad dash for the van in the rain, with your arms full of a baby and groceries, with three little kids running behind you, hopping in the van and shutting the doors all with in seconds and then having your son turn to you and say “Mom, we have the coolest minivan ever!”