BUCKING THE SYSTEM: ABLE TO CARE FOR THE SICK AND EVERYTHING ELSE IN A SINGLE BOUND

* Last week was a doozy, and I now feel I have earned the right to strap an S to my chest.

This week I found out firsthand what a superwoman does.

A superwoman is able to care for the sick, feed the hungry, patch up the injured, entertain the traveler, complete work assignments and attend necessary meetings in a single bound. Basically, she manages to juggle home, work and community without dropping any of the balls.

My mom is a superwoman. For many years she has taken care of my sister, my dad and me, managed a career as a teacher, worked tirelessly in our church, kept a pretty clean house and served better-than-average meals.

In my opinion, any woman who works and has a family should be considered a superwoman. Regardless of what husbands or others think, these women are on duty 24 hours a day. They may only work eight or so hours a day, but then there's the other 16 hours. That's when these women have to cook, clean, take telephone calls, schedule activities, wash bodies and pay attention to every "Look, Mommy" that occurs.

Until this week, I wouldn't have considered myself a superwoman. Sure, I'm busy with family, church, work and community obligations, but like I told a friend last week, "I make time."

But this last week was a doozy, and I now feel I have earned the right to strap an S to my chest.

For starters, I've had a sick baby who has been diagnosed with everything from a viral infection to an ear infection to teething to strep throat to RSV to God-forbid meningitis. You haven't really experienced motherhood until you spend a week:

* cleaning up vomit, runny noses and diarrhea for one child;

* nursing a phantom stomachache and other complaints for the neglected older child;

* forcing a father who worked overnight to "get up and at least cook the Pop Tart, because I'm tired, too";

* putting in really odd and random hours at work trying to get everything completed at least near a deadline;

* settling for an apple and a half-eaten, leftover peanut butter and jelly sandwich for dinner because you're just too tired to do any better; and

* wishing you were young enough to crawl into your mom's bed and just watch game shows all day.

Add into this witch's brew the fact that I've had a house guest since Tuesday, and you'll have to admit that I was a little more than your average bear this week.

By Friday I could barely drive and I had developed a nervous twitch, but I made it to work on time. This was mainly because Superwoman Number 1, my mother, gave me the motivation I needed.

Mom called at 6:30 Friday morning, just as I was preparing to start my day.

"How's the baby?" she asked. When I told her he'd only had one episode during the night, she instructed me to get him dressed and send him to daycare.

"Are you sure he's ready to go back?" I asked, my eyes glistening at the idea of working a full day without worry.

"You can't take this another day, so he's going to have to be ready," Mom said. "I think he's okay, but if he isn't, they'll call and you can take him home."

Even though I'm an adult with a household of my own, my mom continues to take care of me. She had seen the exhaustion, measured up the situation and given me the antidote I needed to make it through another day. Other people might have made similar suggestions, but they weren't superwomen, and therefore were unqualified to help me in my time of trouble.

Although it's not Mother's Day, I think everyone should take the time to thank God for superwomen of the world. They never stop working until the job is done.

And that is what's great about them. The job is NEVER done.

Tamara Zellars Buck is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.