Mother's Daze

By Jane Isfeld Still

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 Mother's Daze

Reviewed by Russell Y Anderson for the Association for Mormon Letters

The title is a play on the words "Mother's day", but also on the frustration that mothers feel on this special day. How many mothers would rather not be fed breakfast in bed (to clean up the mess afterwards) and be reminded of how special mothers are when she sees so many of her own inadequacies. The transition from new bride to mother and all that comes with caring infants and children will bring many humorous moments. Mrs. Still attempts to give us some of those experiences.

Her suggestion for Mother's day might appeal to many mothers: "Could we cancel mother's day, please, or rename it? Smother-Your-Mom-in-Chocolate Day would work. That would be the sort of holiday moms would actually look forward to celebrating. There would be no expectations, no indigestion, and no guilt. Except maybe for eating too much chocolate, but we can live with that."

I am sure that many mothers will relate to the humor she describes as she relates her various experiences of coming face-to-face with childbirth and motherhood. However, I felt that some experiences carried exaggeration too far. My wife laughed as I read the difficulties of dealing with the unwanted flow of breast milk and sending her husband to get some Kotex pads, but I found it hard to believe that her husband would make the statement attributed to him in the following from page 33.

"Honey, you have to go to the store. I soak through my entire wardrobe every day, my incision hurts, and I can hardly walk. Not only that, but you do not have the right equipment to take care of Jason." Wow, I had hidden talents. I was able to say all that and still bite my lip.

"Look," said Rick. "I've got some duct tape in the basement. We've got that extra-absorbent toilet paper. How about I duct tape a roll of toilet paper to each side. That aught to hold you."