In the title I say All, All, Mothers Happy Mothers’ Day. I say this for a reason. Too often we put all mothers in the same bag. Have you seen those parenting sales pitches that begin : “as you rush out in the morning, jump into your Dodge Caravan, wait for your 3 children to hurry and get in the car seats without fighting”…. etc. etc. They take so much for granted in every word of the advertisement. They make you feel something is wrong if you are not part of the picture they are painting..
That’s so wrong in so many ways. So today I want to remember All All Moms whether they are called Mom, Mother, Mama, Gogo, Nana, Grandma, Aunty and on and on. To remember all mothers whether they became mothers 3 weeks ago or 30 years ago. It doesn’t matter.
Being a Mom never stops-the old cliché
Being a Mom hopefully doesn’t ever stop. It’s kinda painful when that happens. Mothers’ Day although commercialized and extremely finance driven, makes many stop even for a moment and remember that they have a mother.
We say we hope it never stops because we grow older every day and take on a new importance in the lives of those we call our children. Most of us are not putting the gift first as we grow older. The material gifts become less important and it’s the evidence of the heart, feeling, how the event is interpreted by the ‘child’ that gains strength in our memories.
When it happened, some women took this mother thing in their stride and carried on as usual. For some women, they became mothers living a range of experiences like:
- Mom developed an illness while pregnant
- There is a history of miscarriages and family illneses
- Being unsure of the future
- Birthing a child with a degenerative disease
- Child is born with special needs
- You were told you were/are infertile
- Child became ill a year or two after birth
- Child is born with severe loss of use of limbs etc.
and it goes on and on
And as we grow older with this new role and responsibility, as many times as it happens it is something unique and special to everyone concerned. Magazines like Parents Canada or Todays Parents or My Child magazine or Parenting all tell the same story. Mothering and parenting are similar but not the same. Mothering reaches deep inside and brings out new nurturing characteristics.
We often wonder if we will get better at it as time goes by. Well that’s another story. Right now, it’s all about us having and showing as much as we can, respect for other women’s life stories. We may not understand it, we feel we could do the same and better if we had that chance, we might feel that could never happen to me or perhaps we wonder what went wrong. But respect means, no judgement ladies. None whatsoever. It’s a rocky road out there full of stumbling blocks for many of us as we share a Happy Mothers’ Day.
As we grow older, make Gratitude the key and Respect the acknowledgment.
Happy Mothers’ Day to All mothers wherever you are!!