Another Mother’s Day
Read more articles on Let Me Share With You and Holidays.May 13, 2007
Posted by Karen Amato Schwartz
May 13, 2007
Posted by Karen Amato Schwartz
268 Views
Even if you’re not a mother, you have one.
For those countries who do not celebrate “Mother’s Day” as such, today is the day of the year some areas have set aside to honor this person.
The older I get, and the older my daughter gets, it seems the connection between parent and child fluctuate madly…some days mothers are responsible for everything and other days it appears that they’ve not made one influence in their child’s life. (For example, it must be my influence that motivated my kid to bring home almost straight A’s, but she can’t be my flesh and blood if she finds body piercing and “emo” grunge attractive.)
Now I see what my mother and your mother went through, and, for what must be the millionth time in the last 13 years, I’ve been amazed that women have been able to keep it together as mothers. It does not matter if a woman has one or six, is not employed or works part or full time, has a partner or not- proper mothering takes almost every ounce of physical and/or emotional energy she has.
I must admit that I have always been a bit envious of full time working moms who kept their professional lives on track and were able to go into their adult world every day, maintaining contacts and friendships over relaxing lunches. As someone who has only worked part time while my daughter was in school, or in evenings when she could be with her dad, I felt that I have had all of the headaches of employment, with none of the benefits, and still no life of my own. Plus, getting out the house, even to work, looked better than staying home on many occasions!
On the other hand, I still find myself jealous of stay-at-home moms who keep their kids in preschool extended programs to give them all day freedom. When I hear about celebrities having or adopting many kids, my first response is that anyone could do that if they could hire round the clock nannies and continue their careers without interruption. Many women appear to experience a much easier time of motherhood than I. But I can’t judge them too harshly: all moms want respite, and some women apparently need more than others.
Talking to a pal the other day, I mentioned that perhaps I was given only one child because “God doesn’t give you more than what you could handle”, to which she responded, “I guess he knew all I could handle was a dog”. Mothering takes all forms, and if you’ve taken responsible and loving care of any pet, you’ve earned your stripes.
About 30 years ago, there was still the tradition that when people went to church on Mother’s day, they wore flowers or corsages-on the right side if they were gifts or if their mom was still with them, but on the left side if they’d lost her.
I’d need to wear mine on my left side today, but I still feel my mom’s presence more than ever. An undisputable fact of life is that no one will ever love you like your mother.
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