7:05am, 5 minutes before we usually leave the house for school, my only child is lying in my bed in pajamas, cell phone in hand:

“Mom, we need to go by Burger King on the way to school.”

(Eyes popping out of my head, frowl wrinkles deepening) “Why?”

“Because I need a crown”

(Why am I engaging in this insanity? And why are you in my bed?) “For what?”

“I just need one…PLEASE!!!”

(Because it’s what we do) I walk to my “closet of tricks” and pull out a crown I had gotten him as a joke for his 13th birthday this year. Walked back into the room “encouraging” him to get his butt out of bed and start getting ready…with said crown in hand. He laughed and said, “Can you take off the Happy Birthday part?”

Five minutes later, I’m walking through my house with a black marker in one hand and crown in the other, laughing. My son says to me, “What’s so funny?”

(Facetiously/sarcastically/honestly) “My favorite thing about being a mom, is being asked to perform magic tricks on a daily basis with no time left on the clock…and actually attempting to do it. . .every. . .single. . .time.”

We laughed. We left for school 15 minutes later than usual. And all was right with the world.

Being a mom is the most difficult, most exhausting, most frustrating, most rewarding gift/job/responsibility I could ever be Blessed with.