Jami Answers to Mommy

You know it's bad when you catch yourself sorting socks and saying "Eddie, Eddie, Mommy, Eddie, Mommy" even when you're alone. I'm not one of those mothers who has lost her identity completely, I still have friends, interests, even occasional outings that have nothing to do with motherhood. But definitely, mommying takes over your life in a way nothing else possibly can. I can remember being desperate to hear "Mama" fall from Eddie's lips. Any honest mom will tell you about waiting for that first child to call you Mommy. You daydream about it. You wonder when it will happen; you "sort of" hear it in the ramblings and then suddenly - there it is! The first "Mama"! Your baby knows you, acknowledges you as a person! I bet 99% of us, if we're telling the truth, will have to admit to tearing up a little. Eddie actually said "Mum" because he went through a phase where he shortened all words to one syllable. I remember it. Before long it was Mommy. And then comes the day when you think if I hear "Mommmmeeeeeee" one more time, I'm getting on the next plane leaving this city for anywhere. One brilliant friend of mine told her two boys that her name was no longer Mommy. If they could guess what her new name is, then she'd answer. She had a nice quiet dinner. It pains me, to some extent, to think how that grates on me some days, because I know how horribly I'll miss it when I'm just "Mom" or "uh, hunh, whatever". Mommy is such a short-lived title, in the scheme of things. How many of you call your mom "Mommy"? I try to remind myself of that on the days when I'm thinking of gagging him, just for a few hours . . . We need to live in the moment to love our lives, but sometimes we get so caught in the moment that we forget that it is, just a moment - fleeting and precious.