This Sunday is Mother’s Day. For some it is a day of celebration for a caring, fabulous Mother. For others, it is a day filled with memories of wishing it had been different.
Mother’s Day gives us the opportunity to look back and see our Mother in a totally different light. No matter the memory, we all need to remember Mom did her best with what she had. No Mother was or is perfect. I knew when Mom put on a certain dress it was going to be a rough day… it was laundry day and not her favorite. I grew up on a luscious farm in a small, southern town in east Tennessee. My Sundays were filled with Sunday school at the First Baptist Church on East Main. Back then, I think things have changed now, we were not allowed to dance. Silly I know, but that was many years ago. I wanted to dance so I had a choice to make… be true to the church or be true to myself. Mother listened and said, “I think you should dance”. More glorious words have never been spoken.
We sometimes forget that our Mother had dreams, were often disappointed and overcame many hurdles while raising us.
My Mom worked at the courthouse in the register of voters office… she was the person in charge. One day she asked for a raise and was politely told “no”. When asked why, she was told that they opened the doors for her and she should be happy. My Mother promptly told them she would be delighted to open her own damn doors thank you very much.
They still said no.
Most of us think of Mom as “just Mom”. Always there, always listening to our woes, and celebrating our wins as children and adults.
Then a funny thing happens… we grow up. Possibly we become Moms ourselves… possibly we are a Mother to a dog, cat or a garden. Whatever we decide we developed a new perspective for the one who gave birth to us. When my Mother was dying I realized I didn’t know her favorite color. While staying in the hospital with her during her last days I asked questions I should have asked many years earlier. Important questions. Silly questions. When I told her what a great Mom she was and how much I loved her she looked at me with those beautiful eyes and said, “Then it was all worth it”.
Simple, kind, caring… that was my Mom.
Her simplicity had great depth. She was extremely intelligent, thoughtful and caring plus she was very organized… something I did not inherit… darn!
You don’t have to have a child to be a Mom. We are all Moms to something.
Remember Mom and celebrate her essence and her contribution to the world by giving you life.
She would be proud of you and your art… she may have worried that you were serious about becoming an artist, as she knew it would be hard. She would have much preferred that you get a “reliable job” or even a “real job”. Mothers have a way of worrying about their children… you know this to be true as it is now your turn to worry about your children, animals or garden.
Do a dance with me today and every day to celebrate all Women and Moms.
