As a daughter, and a mother, I admit I get a bit sentimental about Mother’s Day. With four kids of my own, I certainly understand the change that happens to you after they place in your arms that beautiful child you waited nine months to meet.
From the minute that happens everything else in life is second. Like most moms I would do anything to protect or help my kids.
Tenneva Jordan, a woman known for little except some great quotes, summed up motherhood perfectly, without flowery prose or ploddy erudition: “A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.”
It’s not all about sacrifice and love, however. It’s about establishing a new relationship, leading and guiding that little stranger throughout life. It requires ingenuity, patience and trust. Those elements aren’t always that easy.
Things my mother said and did I may not have understood well as a youngster or a teen. She was entering her 50s as I was coming of age in the late 1960s and early 1970s. She was going “through the change” and I was testing everything in those changing times. Suffice it to say, our relationship was disconnected at best, volatile at worst.
Then I joined the ranks of motherhood and began to see my own mom a different way. I am the parent I am because of the way she raised me. Even her mistakes taught me because I learned they were actions I didn’t want to take as a parent.
In the decades since Mom and I have forgiven much on both sides and enjoy an affectionate and patient relationship. That is something that I am grateful for every day. Especially now as Mom is in her 93rd year and in failing health. We both must now accept that the blissful life she has enjoyed isn’t going to last forever. It is not a time to be at odds or have regrets.
So it is, with sentimentality and love, I celebrate and enjoy Mother’s Day. I salute all moms who sacrifice, guide and yes, occasionally mess up. It’s a wonderful role we accept, a true labour of love. And the joy of that experience is beautifully captured in these photo collections:
