It’s Mother’s Day in my little corner of the world, and in spite of the Midterms rush and a general dearth of interesting things to say, I’m going to take a few minutes and let my hands wander my (shiny, glowing) new keyboard on the topic.
There are three prominent women in my life who are mothers. I won’t say they are prominent mothers –it is part of who they are, but not what defines them as people by any means. Two of them have children already grown up and moved on; the third still has a number of years to go before that post-18th silence settles back over her home. All three of them raised fantastic children, one of whom is quite literally the big sister I never had, and others who I hope to meet someday.
All three of these women have been a huge part of my life, and I cannot begin to thank any of them for the things they’ve done for me over the years –but by and by I’m going to try, today and the many May 9ths to come are but a small part of that.
I’m not big on holidays, generally. I feel that too many of them have become too commercialized and too easily thought of in terms of merchandising goals and sales quotas, the bottom line cutting into the meaning of the day itself. I don’t claim to be an expert on any of these things; I prefer rather to take a little bit of time out to reflect, to think –as I am now- on the people that are important to me and the things I value.
Mother’s Day should, I think, be every day. All too often in the chaotic shuffle of life we forget the people that are dear to us, and none more so than our mothers, who from my observation have the most difficult, endless, thankless job on the planet. They deserve more than one day a year for all of that.
I’ve been lucky. I know more than a few people who don’t feel as I do about my mother, who were raised without theirs or wish they’d been. I’m ever thankful to have one who put as much heart and soul into raising me as she did, teaching me right and wrong and to always question, always think for myself (the greatest gift I think any parent can give their child). Two know two more women just as amazing makes me truly blessed.
I don’t have a lot more to say on the topic, so I’ll keep this brief and wrap up by saying to everyone out there: even if you’re not in a part of the world that celebrates the day, even if you’re in a part of the world that celebrates it on another day, take a couple of moments out of your day to thank your mother and the other mothers you know: they take a responsibility I can’t imagine bearing and make it look easy, all for the benefit of the next generation.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some phone calls to make.
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