Being the mother of four children was an adventure every day. Being the mother of four BOYS was an adventure every minute. The boys always found something to amuse themselves with whenever they were left to their own devices. Most times the outcome was fine…other times, not so much.

There’s a product called Fun Tak that’s advertised as:  “a removable, long lasting, no mess, stain resistant and non-toxic blue adhesive for hanging posters, photos and drawings on the wall”

A fantastic product…until a child mashes it into his hair and for good measure, squishes it into a sibling’s tresses as well. “Removable” and “No Mess”?  I beg to differ.  I will, however, attest to its “Long Lasting” claim since 19 shampoos did not budge it. After a frantic call to the manufacturer for suggestions on how to get the stuff out of hair, the two culprits went to school for a week looking like 50’s Greasers.  It seems the recommended remedy of mineral oil was “long lasting” as well.

Another “hair” raising adventure was the day one child decided to rev up a “Rev ‘Em Up Racer” and while the wheels were frantically spinning…place it on his head. The wheels spun around his hair, resulting in the car being cemented to his scalp.  I tried to carefully free the car from his pate using scissors and razor, but he still wound up going to school for a week looking like Howie Mandel.

The folks at Poison Control were almost like family. I called them almost as much as I called my mother. One child swallowed Afrin pediatric nose drops resulting in the administration of two doses of Ipecac and a whoops pot. (Hours later, the same child confessed he really hadn’t swallowed them after all; he had poured them down the drain.)  One son swallowed Mr. Clean while another feasted on a box of chalk. We called Poison Control so much I worried I might have to start using an alias so DHS wouldn’t arrive at the front door to cart my kids away.

One day, a son was getting antsy because lunch wasn’t appearing on the table fast enough, and heard me mutter “I need help” . Imagine my surprise when an elderly neighbor who I hardly knew tottered up to my door and said “Is everything okay? Your son told me to come over because you needed help”.  And if truth be told, I would have put him to work making peanut butter sandwiches if it wasn’t for the fact the poor man could hardly stand erect.

A frog, a baby squirrel, numerous goldfish (one of which I had to feed with a tweezers because he was on his last fins and couldn’t get to the food), four white mice, a guinea pig, a Golden Retriever and a stray calico cat…all who found their way into our home – mainly because mom couldn’t resist those famous words “Mom, please. Can’t we keep it?” (And by the way…that half dead goldfish went on to live another two years. Go figure.)

And, I kind of miss those Mother’s Day breakfasts, when, after waking me at 5:30 am, the boys would insist I remain in bed while they prepared a morning feast in the kitchen. It was a sure bet I would eventually hear one brother hissing to another “Now look what you’ve done. You’ve sneezed all over Mom’s cereal” or ” Just pick it up and put it back on the plate”.  And how can I forget those 16 oz glasses of milk that accompanied the breakfasts?  (I still can’t forget them!!)

Yes, those escapades have given me my gray hair, but I wouldn’t have changed a single moment over the years. Mother’s Day for me was every day…and even though my boys are all grown up now…it still is.