"At the end of the day..."

I once worked with a guy whose favorite way to start a sentence was, "At the end of the day, ..." He didn't say it was his favorite, but I knew it was because he said it all.the.time. We all noticed it and eventually teased him about it a little, which made him laugh that he didn't realize how much he said it.

The context was usually something like, "At the end of the day, if we're profitable, that's all the counts." or "At the end of the day, what matters is that the client is happy." or "At the end of the day, we're committed to staying within budget." or "At the end of the day, we're all going home." OK that last one I made up, but you get the picture.

A couple of weeks ago during our weekly trip to the library, I stumbled upon this book:

I flipped through it long enough to see that there were amusing illustrations, and the text was lengthy enough to interest a growing 4-year-old's imagination but short enough that it should keep his attention. I slid it into the library bag with the others and we were on our way.

Later during our pre-nap story time, I started in on this charming, humorous tale involving a mischevious little boy who is punished by his "summer-stealing, child-working, carrot-cuddling" mother for dipping his little sister in a vat of purple dye. He falls into a deep post-tantrum sleep and dreams his mom is taken to Mars so the martians have someone to take them places and run errands because, as everyone knows, martians don't have moms because they grow in the ground like potatoes.

I'll spare you the details of what happens next, but let's just say the first time I read it, I got the shakey voice and quivering lip to the point my boy was paying more attention to my blubbering than the rest of the story. The point is (in the words of my beloved former coworker) "at the end of the day..." I'm a mom who, although imperfect in many ways and periodically loses my cool around the kiddos, will sacrifice ANYTHING for them. And if you read the book, you'll know what that ANYTHING is.

Tip: You may want to read it to yourself first if you want to maintain composure while reading it aloud. Although, the boy and I had a nice discussion about it afterwards, and later that day he said, "Mom, even when I get in trouble, I still love you."

Pass the tissues.

P.S. Look for this made into a Disney 3D movie next March!