A mother's work is much like that of Sisyphus

Sisyphus of Greek mythology was condemned to spend an eternity heaving a rock uphill only to see it careen to the bottom as soon as he reached its summit. I think often of his legend as I go about the daily list of mommy chores that once accomplished, must be started again almost immediately. Cooking, dishes, cleaning, laundry . . . cooking, dishes, cleaning, laundry. And endlessly picking things up -- toys mostly. OK, so I don't actually do all these as often as necessary. When you spend most of the day in the house with small children, they do a number on the place. The floor needs to be washed daily -- actually, several times a day. You won't be able to figure out how that sticky stuff got behind the sofa. While I'm busy with the dishes, my 3-year-old occupies herself by spreading the contents of my utensil drawer all over the family room carpet. You have to decide, pick it all up now or make it to preschool on time. The gods were punishing Sisyphus for a lack of humility. I suppose we can assume mothers are enduring a similar punishment. We have the gall to bring children into the world. It is our penance to continually pick up after them. At some point they become old enough that they should be able to pick up after themselves. But then it is up to us, of course, to remind, cajole and threaten punishment in order to get the job done. On a weary day, we give up and do it ourselves. Or we don't do it and blog about instead. There was a time where I imagine this work may have been less overwhelming. Did they always have Imaginex sets with hundreds of pieces? Did they mix their 400 Legos with their 247 Playmobil figures? Did anyone besides Mom know which pieces went back with which set? But unlike Sisyphus, when we finally follow the boulder back to the bottom of the hill, we find the ride up again is not exactly the same. We notice our children have grown a little bit more. And perhaps, they've grown tired of a toy we can now discard. Or, perhaps they've even learned a little bit about how to fold towels or scrub a dish. They will find these hidden skills suddenly useful when they finally are launched into the world. And they will find them immensely useful when they have children of their own.