Paying Homage to the Mom Gene (Not to be confused with "Mom Jean")

Happy belated Mother's Day to all of you mommies out there and to my fellow singletons, we'll get our own holiday someday soon - if anyone can make it happen, Hallmark will. I celebrated FTD's most lucrative holiday by way of a 5k run with my sister (a mom) and of course spent some time with my mom a day prior.

This 5k thing is becoming a bit of an annual thing. My sister, a bit of an ultra mom, with a full-time job and mother of 4 little girls (7 mos., 2 1/2, 5 and almost 7) chose, on a day she could sleep in and be treated like a "Queen" by her "King" and ever expanding "court", to wake early to join me. And, to give her a bit of a break after the run, I took her two oldest on a quick "adventure" to Starbucks and then we partied down at the car wash, singing along to the Sound of Music's "Lonely Goatherd (or as they call it the "Ladeedlay Song") and "It's a Hard Knock Life" from Annie. Yeah, I'm one helluva an aunt.

I would guess moms of all kinds everywhere yesterday celebrated in various ways surrounded by family and friends: brunches, flowers, breakfast in bed, savoring every word of a child's homemade card and just enjoying their "day off" (yeah, right!)

But, there really is something about a mom that differentiates her from the average person. I call it "The Mom Gene." It's that thing that transforms an ordinary woman into a super woman of sorts. It's the woman who once slept until noon; or the ultimate gym rat who'd miss a party to hit her favorite power aerobics class; or the fun gal who found it perfectly normal to dance on top of the bar! (CM, I swear I'm not referring specifically to you at The Pub!) Then when that precious bundle of joy enters her life, there's an amazing transformation. Well, she's still the same woman, but with some additions: eyes installed in the back of her head; bionic hearing activated; unbelievable instincts forcing "spot on" right snap decisions; multi-tasking if on steroids; and then one trait that mesmerizes me most - - high functioning capacity with very few hours of sleep!

After many years of amazement, watching friend by friend and sisters transform, I realized, it's gotta be "The Mom Gene" - an intangible, inexplicable "chip" that activates automatically when a woman becomes a mom. Yes, I know, there are in some cases dads who acquire this gene, but it's a rarity. Singletons like myself, well it's just not our time (yet) for the gene...but maybe someday...

A day or two late, but a huge cheers to all of the mom's out there, not just today, but every day and keep on rocking The Mom Gene!

The original and more familiar "Mom Jean"


A great song for all moms out there!