Definition of a good mom?

I have been contemplating and wondering a lot lately if I was going to be a good mom. How would I measure a good mom? Will I be protective enough? Nurturing enough? Caring enough?

Last night (or early this morning) at around 2:15 a.m. my ever vigilant watch dog, Keefer sounded the alarm. With his four paws trying to gain traction as fast as he could on our wood floor and his deep gutteral bark, he made his way out the doggy door and to the bottom of our river birch. I sleepily awoke and slowly made my way to the sliding glass door and commanded him in. He came at once, like a good dog should and I immediately blocked the door so he and Bailey couldn't get out.

Once I had the yard secure, I grabbed our dilapidated ladder and placed it under the tree. I was going to climb and get the bird feeders out of the tree and go back to bed...or so I thought. I heard a lot of commotion in the tree and that caused me to pause. I immediately went back inside, woke up my 15 1/2 year old niece, Monica from her coma and asked her for her assistance. We both went back outside, this time armed with the spot light. I shined the light into the middle of the tree and was immediately mooned by two little raccoon butts. Monica was in charge of spotting the animals while I climbed the ladder to rescue our 4 bird feeders. Inside we went and back to sleep was the idea.

I decided to wait and watch for a minute to ensure the raccoons exited our yard with haste. I waited, and waited and waited. Finally I saw a dark lump moving across an even darker yard. I shined the spot light and saw one raccoon climb the fence...and stop. Why wasn't it running away after it had been spotted?? This raccoon sat on the fence contemplating whether to jump down the other side or stay on top. Why??? Finally the indecisive raccoon exited the yard and I thought was gone.

1 down, 1 to go. Should I go to bed or wait? I waited...and saw another dark figure slinking down the tree...and back up again. What?!?!?!?!? Leave our yard!!! Please!!! For the love of God I'm tired and would really like for my vicious beagle to be quiet!!! Something in the back of our yard caught my eye so I sent the beam of spotlight that direction. Could it be???? Is that the raccoon that just left our yard? Why is it hiding in the evergreen that hangs over our fence? Why is it still staring at our tree??? Then I understood. This was a momma raccoon and the two raccoon butts were her babies. So 3 total in our tree. Okay. I'll turn off all the lights and try to get our watch dogs to leave them alone so they feel comfortable enough to leave. No luck. For whatever reason the babies didn't want to come down. They would climb down and run back up the tree. Perhaps it was the dogs or maybe it was the crazy biped with the bright light that kept them confused and in the tree. Regardless of all the commotion, dogs barking and jumping at the windows, bright lights in eyes, I saw a dark lump lurking across the yard from our evergreen. Are you kidding me? Momma raccoon wanted to make sure her babies got down from the tree and were safe. Even with all the dogs and crazy humans. Amazing!!! I had to turn our front porch light on just to make sure I was seeing what I thought I was seeing. Even with Keefer, our 85 pound lab mix trying to get out to chase them away the momma continued in her quest to make it to the bottom of the tree. I had to know where the babies were so I shined the spotlight in the tree and low and behold, there were 4 baby raccoons climbing on one another at the bottom crook of our tree. Finally, momma raccoon was at the bottom and slowly each little baby decided to climb head first down the tree. 4 babies were on the ground and momma was leading the way to the back of the yard for the cover of the evergreen. I had to watch their exit and was actually touched by the sight of a larger, mother raccoon leading 4 babies to safety. The line of 5 raccoons running across the yard and over the fence made me smile and feel good that everything ended up alright.

I climbed back in bed and noticed it was 3 something in the morning. I'm tired but feel blessed, is that the right word, to have been a part of this event.

Can I be a vigilant mother like the raccoon momma? Can I be as nurturing or caring? Will my safety matter if my offspring were in trouble? I can't answer that right now but I'd like to believe that I can be a good of a mother as this momma raccoon is. Nature has taught me so many things, little did I know it would be an example of how a mother should be.