I was heading to bed around midnight when I heard a gurgling sound from down the hall. I knew what it was.

I opened the door to my son’s bedroom to discover he had got sick all over the place.

I managed to get his clothing changed, wash him, rip the bedding from his mattress and clean up the exorcism that seemingly happened as fast as I could.

It was all very brave of me considering I have a huge fear of vomit, but as a parent you gotta do whatcha gotta do.

When your child is sick, you hold them and hug them. You rest your cheek on their forehead to make sure they aren’t burning up with a fever, even though they just threw up. You put the fear of being the next to catch their plague on the back burner, because this little person needs you. They don’t understand what their body is going through so they just want you to comfort them. And you just do it, without thinking twice about it.

We spent the next day nursing our son back to health. My husband laid in bed with him so he wasn’t lonely. I offered to spoon-feed him soup when he was too weak to feed himself. Nothing too special, just trying to make him feel better.

That night as I was bathing the kids my husband came up to me.

“You’re a really good Mom.” He said.

I looked up at him, confused as hell. “What do you mean?”

“The way you take care of our kids. You’re a great mother.”

And that was it.

I blinked away tears. I don’t even think I said anything in return. Not even a thank you. I was caught up in my own doubtful mind trying to add up whatever I did to make me a good mom after always feeling like I need to do better.

I had no idea how much I needed to hear that. As mothers, I think we all feel like we aren’t doing a good enough job. Like we always need to be doing more. We feel all our hard work goes unnoticed.

So when someone takes the time to let you know you are appreciated, it makes all of this worth it.

Now my ass needs to go tell my husband thank you, and that he too is great at all of this parenting bullshiiiiiit since I DIDN’T BOTHER TO in the moment!

Let the people in your lives know how much you appreciate them.

Even the tiniest acknowledgment. It can mean more to them than you realize.

But also, help do some of the barfy laundry.