MOTHERHOOD IS THE NECESSITY OF INVENTION

That was the title of a book I intended to write a number of years ago. The kids were small. Life was rough, and income scarce. So bad that we were on the regular cut-off list for the electric meter man. One day I saw him coming and ran out to meet him, paid receipt in hand. "Oh, sorry," he said. "I guess it just got to be a habit."

I was thinking about all the things I did to adapt, make ends meet. And I'll admit, the way I made things did have a lot of people amazed. I thought myself quite clever, clever enough to write them in a book. But it never got done. Being clever while raising five kids takes a lot of time, you see. And when I finally decided if I hoped to ever get out of the poverty cycle, I'd better get back to school and get my degree, book writing was set aside for some future time.

That was my "Blaze of Glory" period- as in, "Might as well go out in a Blaze of Glory." Because that's what going to college full-time while raising five kids, baby-sitting for other moms and selling home-baked bread to neighbors is.

Side-tracked, there. That's only tangential to my point. My point is, I see my daughters, as mothers, doing the same thing. When something can't be done, they find a way to do it. Does it mean sewing a garment you can't afford to buy? Getting a degree to get a better job while working and raising kids? Writing a book? Painting a watercolor? Building a gadget to do something better? Working a night shift or getting a tele-commute job, finding a way to help a step-child develop great study habits? Making grueling internet searches and bid to find the cheapest air tickets to Disney World for a mini-family reunion?

That's what moms do. They invent a way.