The Glue

If you are a wife and mother you must know that you are the glue that holds your household together. You cannot get sick but if you do slip up and catch a bug, you must not let it get you down. You will have to muster all of your strength to nurse your family because you can be sure that they will probably be the ones who got you sick to begin with and now are the ones who are crying that they cannot function in this life until they are well.

You must not sleep because you will undoubtedly have to wipe noses, give midnight drinks of water, rub mentholatum on chests, administer medications, and generally just be awake to assure your ill family that "you'll be fine."

If you, as the glue, lose some of your stickiness, your entire household will fall apart. Dirty dishes will abound, laundry will pile up and your husband, although he is sick, will do your grocery shopping and come home with $70 worth of junk food and later have a relapse because he should have been home resting. I'll spare you the warning of the father-in-law's phone call reminding you that your hubby needs his rest. Never mind that you are ill....you are the glue and you must do your job.

Am I complaining? Yes and no. Sometimes I get tired of trying to hold everyone in place. I get tired of cooking and cleaning, especially when I have the flu just like the six other people in this house. But it's my job and I try to do it "as unto the Lord." If I keep my eyes focused upon who I'm really working for, I can do it with joy in my heart. If I just look at the temporal I get easily side-tracked and thus believe that I'm slaving away for a group of ungrateful folks who don't seem to care a bit about my health or feelings. I'd rather have joy.