Somebody Said . . .

Somebody said it takes about six weeks to get back to normal after you've had a baby . . . somebody doesn't know that once you're a mother, normal is history.

Somebody said if you're a "good" mother, your child will "turn out good" . . . somebody thinks a child comes with directions and a guarantee.

Somebody said "good" mothers never raise their voices . . . somebody never came out the back door just in time to see her child hit a golf ball through the neighbour's kitchen window.

Somebody said you can't love the fifth child, as much as you love the first . . . somebody doesn't have five children.

Somebody said the hardest part of being a mother is labour and delivery . . . somebody never watched her "baby" get on the bus for the first day of kindergarten or on a plane headed for military "boot camp".

Somebody said a mother can do her job with her eyes closed and one hand tied behind her back . . . somebody never organised seven Brownies to sell cookies.

Somebody said a mother's job is done when her last child leaves home . . . somebody never had grandchildren.

Somebody said your mother knows you love her, so you don't need to tell her . . . somebody isn't a mother.

Submitted by NB Women's News, a publication of the New Brunswick Advisory Council on the Status of Women www.acswcccf.nb.ca

Somebody Said was written by Renee Hawkley, Idaho's Mother of the Year 2000. From her book, "Don't Come In Here! Mom's Throwing Spaghetti!"