A mother’s love is priceless

For Mother’s Day I did good: I took Peggy to Phil Nofal’s in Florence. I bought roses for her feet. To Peggy, the fragrance of a new pair of shoes is like music to her feet. It’s been said the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. If this is true, why do we devote one day to mother and an entire week to pickles?

We judge people by the size of their bank accounts, but on Sunday we go to church and worship a man born in a manger, a man who never had a sports utility vehicle, a credit card or a house at the beach.

On Mother’s Day, moms receive a card, a telephone call, a bouquet of roses and a trip to an all-you-can-eat buffet. The media reports Mother’s Day is the third largest holiday for cards and No. 4 for flowers.

The Associated Press says if a stay-at-home mom were drawing a paycheck, the amount would be $116,805. That’s a bargain when you consider she’s a housekeeper, cook, chauffeur, nurse and a psychologist.

For a mama, there’s no 40-hour work week or time and a half for overtime. The average mother is a mind reader. She has eyes in the back of her head and when the house is full of children and it’s so quiet you can hear a butterfly belch, she knows to call 911.

There’s no price tag on clean sheets, a clean house and clean children. If I had a dollar every time Peggy has filled up a clothesline, a dollar for every shirt she has ironed, every bathroom she cleaned, every trashcan she has emptied and every stomach she has filled, I could hire Donald Trump to cut my grass.

There’s no retirement for a mother. An empty nest can soon be filled with grandchildren.

As I write this, Peggy and the cat are checking out the tomatoes in her garden. She doesn’t have to plant a garden. She doesn’t have to stay in the kitchen when the house is full of grandchildren.

She doesn’t have to prepare pizza at midnight for two giggling teenage girls. She doesn’t have to rub my back or bring me coffee.

What if love cost as much as gasoline or a movie ticket? Each month you receive a bill from the telephone company, your electric co-op, but have you ever received one from your mother or your grandmother?

The experts say she’s worth $116,805. What is your’s worth? A mother’s love is not condensed, not pasteurized and it never evaporates.

— Charlie Walker is a local newspaper columnist. He can be reached at P.O. Box 441, Kingstree, SC 29556.