These came this morning in an e-mail~

The Ellen Show was on and she read this submission to a contest from a viewer:

            So, we had this great 10 year old cat named Jack who just
            recently died. Jack was a great cat and the kids would carry
            him around and sit on him and nothing ever bothered him. He
            used to hang out and nap all day long on this mat in our
            bathroom.

            Well, we have 3 kids and at the time of this story they were 4
            years old, 3 years old and 1 year old. The middle one is Eli.
            Eli really loves chapstick. LOVES IT. He kept asking to use my
            chapstick and then losing it. So finally one day I showed him
            where in the bathroom I keep my chapstick and how he could use
            it whenever he wanted to but he needed to put it right back in
            the drawer when he was done.

            Last year on Mother's Day, we were having the typical rush
            around and try to get ready for Church with everyone crying and
            carrying on. My two boys are fighting over the toy in the
            cereal box. I am trying to nurse my little one at the same time
            I am putting on my make-up. Everything is a mess and everyone
            has long forgotten that this is a wonderful day to honor me and
            the amazing job that is motherhood.

            We finally have the older one and the baby loaded in the car
            and I am looking for Eli. I have searched everywhere and I
            finally round the corner to go into the bathroom. And there was
            Eli. He was applying my chapstick very carefully to Jack's rear end.

            Eli looked right into my eyes and said
"chapped."
            Now if you have a cat, you know that he is right--their
little
            butts do look pretty chapped. And, frankly, Jack didn't seem
to
            mind.

            And the only question to really ask at that point was whether
            it was the FIRST time Eli had done that to the cat's behind or the hundredth.

            And THAT is my favorite Mother's Day moment ever because it
            reminds us that no matter how hard we try to civilize these
            glorious little creatures, there will always be that day
when
            you realize they've been using your chapstick on the cat's
            butt.