Today was Mother’s Day.
For years this has been a bittersweet day. I have always been surrounded by wonderful women who deserve to be honored on Mother’s day – my own mother, grandmothers, aunts, and the mother’s of dear friends. As I grew older there were then all my friends who were showing me how to be a wonderful mother while trying to juggle work, families, faith, and the pressures of today’s society. But for years it was a day that was filled with pain and longing. Perhaps I will explore those feeling someday, here. Maybe it will help someone to know that they are not alone. But for now we will leave it that they were emotionally brutal years.
Then came Mother’s Day 2003 – I stood for the Mother’s Blessing during Mass and held my child - not born of my womb, but of my heart, and through God’s amazing grace and guidance. She was tiny, precious, precocious, and everything that I had ever dreamed of. Then there was Mother’s Day 2005 – I had another precious, very different, but no less loved, and cherished one in my arms. I looked at my husband today and thanked him for making me a mother. He looked at me oddly and said something about not having a lot to do with the creation of our children. But I reminded him that without him standing beside me through the rough years, without our combined drive and desire to expand our family, I would not be celebrating mother’s day. He just grinned. Yes, I am blessed. Today is a day to count the blessings and love in my life.
