On the day before Mother’s Day, I usually post about the origins of the holiday in the 1870s, when Boston reformer Julia Ward Howe decided she would create a “Mothers’ Day” to bring women together to end war. Tonight, though, I have just come from the wedding of our fabulous producer for the Now & Then podcast, where almost the whole team gathered to celebrate, and am thinking about family and how often it has nothing to do with blood and everything to do with chance and affinity.
Thank you, Heather. Happy Mother’s Day to you. I never had a « belly born » child, but I mothered a generation of public school children in NYC from 1974-2010. A great life and a great career. Thank you for mentioning your « mothers ».
Thank you, Elisabeth. What a contribution you made, teaching with ❤️ for 36 years! Luckily, teaching provides a ‘wealth’ of its own rewards. Happy Mother’s Day.
Denise, Standing up for teachers after the mean comments about them after(?) Covid. Your comment is why! With more and more mothers in the workforce, teachers spend more time (dare I say quality time) with children than their mothers. Even when mothers were only “housewives,” this was often true. As humans, we are all learners, so all our teachers are important, but in the huge complication that is the current world, it is school teachers who give us tools and courage to grow into our best selves.
I should have written the Cicero quotation about knowing history so I can write it every day. Professor Richardson is mothering all of us.
I was fortunate enough to be able to stay home with my own until they were in school. But most women can’t afford to do that. Their income is crucial to the household. Unfortunately now, parents are being told they are educational experts and should therefore oversee their child’s education in detail. Pick a lane ‘rents! Go get an education degree or leave it to the experts! Ha! And hello teaching isn’t for everyone! With less than two weeks left my patience is limited! Imagine if you didn’t love it! Thanks for the support of all teachers! From kinder to college!
Yes! “Go get an education degree or leave it to the experts!” Home schoolers should have the same credentialing requirements as public school teachers.
It’s a liberal arts degree that produces the best teachers. Many education degrees are about testing and are not useful teaching tools. If a teacher is not taught by the best, i.e., teachers who have been educated with history, civics, foreign languages, basic sciences, how can a student learn to teach? I had a wonderful Radcliffe educated French teacher. Although I could never emulate her to my satisfaction when I taught French language and literature, I did my best. Education departments are not where the best education is to be found.
Virginia, in Idaho our Republican governor has stated he is giving teachers on average a $6300.00 dollar raise by cutting taxes because his most important goal is making education his highest priority. Also law enforcement officers will be getting a$6000.00 raise by cutting taxes so he can continue to send delegations to the Mexican border to help curtail immigration. His perspective is that Biden has no right to govern and if we can put Idaho first nationally in every category as he has done by cutting taxes we will have Trump back to get the nation in control of religious white national values. I really don’t suspect that our 13% Hispanic population will be getting much in the way of tax cuts even as they are the factor contributing the most significant productivity for their population density. Good on teachers though.
That was his state of the state address in 2023. He has a perfect way of stating almost nothing and taking credit for it. I can’t see him so I’m loath to trust him. Teachers are long long overdue in Idaho. One of the fixes for the teacher shortage has been the shake and bake creation and certification of non- credentialed teachers through a suedo-mentoring production process. What they lack is an educational backgrounding and certification.
When I taught fourth grade, the kids often called me Mom. The boys would be embarrassed by their slip up, but we just laughed. I also had each child give me a "good-bye" as they left the classroom at the end of the day. They could choose a handshake, a high five, or a hug. A surprising number of the kids chose to hug me. What a joy! Later, when I moved to teaching sixth grade, I still had kids who called me "mom". It warmed my heart.
Two of the most important women in my life were teachers (Sybil Redmond in high school and Nancy Mitchell in college). I still think of them with love and gratitude. I'm sure in those 36 years you have touched many children in a similar way. You have mothered many. Thanks for inspiring good memories.
This is a great remembrance for all those women who have been mothers of their own children and the children of others. I also have no children, but several ex-students who are dear to me that I hopefully helped along the way. One of them and her mother recently took me out for high tea to celebrate my 80th. I also had several teachers, who acted as mothers and were life long friends. I was able to care for one of them when she became elderly. With gratitude for Heather, for all of you, for my teacher mothers, and my ex-students who have filled my life with joy as I have watched them become mothers (or not) and walk their roads.
I am almost 71 years old and still remember my kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Reed. I even have a picture of her. My teachers were always my heroes, a sentiment that burns bright to this very day (I am a lifelong student).
Happy Mother's Day to all who have ever nourished and cared for a fellow creature, especially a child.
Front and foremost, Happy Mother's Day to our dear and irreplaceable Mother Earth.
I'm almost 70 and I had Miss Reed for kindergarten. (Actually, I don't know how she spelled her last name, but that's how it was pronounced.) Good teachers are worth their weight in gold.
You are so sweet, D4N. Thank you. I just heard from a student, a doctor, whose daughter just graduated from college and is admitted to U of Michigan for PhD studies. So rewarding to hear these wonderful outcomes.
I was a late in life baby. My mother who had to work left my upbringing to my stepsister who was ten years older than me. "Dodee" because I could pronounce "Joyce" would wheel me around the neighborhood, showing off my long red curls to everyone she encountered. Later she would create art project as presents for me. She styled my hair in a "D.A." I would experiment with her perfume bottle creating new fragrances, much to her dismay. Her "HiFI" record player was shared with me and we listened to Elvis singing "You Ain't Nothin' But A Hound Dog" for hours on end. She was always coming to my defense when my mother would become angry at me. Tensions with my mother drove her to move to Southern California to become a key punch operator. Thank you Joyce, my mother.
That was just a wonderful read. Thank you and Happy Mother's Day to all the Mothers out there whether you are a mother to your children or to someone else's.
During my years working at all levels of public school, I met many women (mothers) who should never have been allowed around young children. Every year on Mother’s Day, I think of these women and how some do great harm to their offspring. Then there are those who provide motherly love to needy, damaged little souls and to those they meet by “chance and affinity.” Thank you for highlighting those who care and guide without an agenda.
Motherhood comes in so many forms and expressions, one often neglects to recognize our “mothers” until after their influence in our lives survives their anatomical existence. My biological mother died unexpectedly when I was 16. I never had the opportunity to show her how much I truly loved her, nor to ask for her forgiveness having lost her amid my most rebellious teenage years.
An only child living alone (my father had left us years before), surrogate mothers immediately filled in, starting with my mother’s sisters, who took turns imperceptibly coaching me wisely about womanhood and life.
As I grew older and left my hometown, other elderly women (neighbors, coworkers, friends’ mothers, my mother-in-law) stepped in, successfully guiding me throughout the difficult phases of what otherwise could have become a troubled life.
Now a happily retired elder myself, soon to be getting married to a wonderful man with whom I plan to enjoy a golden age, like Heather, I am grateful for and celebrate the women who showered me with the boundless, overflowing motherly love that I, in turn, have since bestowed upon the adoptive daughters who have richly blessed and now fulfill my existence…
I turned my mom's hair PREMATURELY GREY with some of the CRAP that I pulled & some stuff that I said ( don't use profanity as a kid when mom is watching.... ), but we mostly had an unusually good relationship. My stepmother was a barely - educated redneck & we didn't see eye to eye on ANYTHING. Zip, zed, Zero, goose - egg.
I had two stepmothers. The first one was a sociopath who married my dad for his money and ran him dry. The second was much better for him although she and I were sometimes at odds, partly because she didn't like having her routine disturbed which meant my visits were a problem. One mother's day not too long after my father married her, my hubby and I had a little too much to drink and sent flowers to his mother, his grandmother(he called her Bo Grumpus), and my stepmother. I got a note from her, not thanking us, but telling me she wasn't my mother. That put an end to any flowers after that.
My stepmom treated me like some kind of ALIEN PET ( ! ) left over from before he remarried. There's a whole other story, I met her daughter then my dad got engaged to her mom, & that pretty much tossed some monkey wrenches into the works. There were a few positive moments, but my stepmom was more than a LITTLE TOXIC re. : me.
I would've said " moonfaced assassin of joy " ( from a TV show that I used to watch ). but her facial structure was angular. A piddling small technicality / nitpick, I know.....
Your words describing your stepmom perfectly apply to those evil Moms for Liberty attacking books. May I copy and paste in my responses to their rants? Thanx
I RARELY use FB or Twitter. I was cajoled into joining FB by my aunt, who is part of a special interest group there. But so much of social media seems like a Mulligan's Stew, Mulligatawny ( try typing THAT after being awake when other sensible people are sleeping. ) of white noise.
Daniel, as I try to establish a durable friendship with my daughter (the old mother-son, father-daughter reality at play here), it’s good to read your statement. My husband’s mother was a friend to him, which helped him to be his best self and to be a wonderful husband.
Whether one is adopted or a biological child, the parent -child thing can be difficult to navigate ( I'm not a psychologist, I just pick up on things ). Picking up a satellite that splashed down & landed on the ocean floor using a PLUNGER would be easier.
I think it depends on how you befriend your child. My mom called me her friend and told me things that would have been better shared with a peer. As an adult I witnessed many mother, daughter friendships. The qualifier is that you become peers at a certain point. My mom wanted a friend when we weren’t equals....mother, child but didn’t want me to grow up and have a woman to woman relationship with her. Consequently, her response to my maturing was to triangulate which damaged other relationships for me.
My relationship with my stepmom was like walking through a minefield where they kept switching the mines. & she had a nasty penchant for listening in on private conversations. She didn't believe in privacy very much.
I wish that my cousin had an " inner child ", she acts like almost everything is business & she makes Mr. Spock & Cmdr. Data ( & perhaps Lt. Cmdr. Worf - yep, I'm a GEEK ) look like a comedy duo or trio.
I was never a "real" mother, "only" a stepmother. That was pointed out to me many times under many circumstances and it bothered me a lot. I talked about it once with my friend George and he said, "For heavens' sake, Louanne! You mother everyone you know!"
Beautiful story, Heather. I to have a lot of “mothers” but, ironically, of my mother, all my aunts, grandmothers, the one I think about on this day is the lady that actually raised me. The lady that actually molded me to what I am, what I became. That lady was our maid, Jennie Warren. A black lady whose husband, Frank, worked for my dad on the farm.
Every morning, when I was young, in school, she would see to it I had breakfast and was well dressed for school. When I got home, she saw to it there was something to snack on, my homework was done, then afterwards made sure baths were done and in bed on time.
She always had stories to tell. About slavery, the life on the farm during the slavery times, and all. She was a walking history lesson to me.
But, on this Mother’s Day of 2023 I want to wish all the ladies, and you, a very happy, safe, and most of all enjoyable day. You ladies definitely deserve it!
In todays Reuters, a factoid; 88% of women who bore children consider motherhood to have been the most important role of their lives. My mom, about to turn 95, raised 5 of her own and a neighborhoods worth of friends. She is at the very top of the pinnacle in the pantheon of my heroes.
Good wishes to your mother and the offspring who received her nurturing. My mother is the same age and raised many children, too. Her life was filled with work: farmwork, housework, tending babies. Now she reaps the love and affection she showed us every day.
Heather, many of your memories reflect the women in my life, including "Mother Ann" Fernald on Islesford.
My grandmother, at 93 and living in her home state of Florida, invited her pastor to her home for coffee and cake. A perfectionist at everything she put her mind to, she had laid out a spread. She couldn't drive anymore due to leg issues. During the course of their conversation (the pastor told this at her funeral), she said to him, "You know, Pastor, I think I'm ready to die." "Why, Bessie?" You can watch the Sunday service on TV!" "That's got nothing to do with it," she said. "I can't drive to my Bridge game." A couple of weeks later, she was gone, but never forgotten.
I love “ Being a mother is a sacred choice…” Yes, it surely is, and one I avoided until age 56, when I agreed to become an adoptive mother. I'd been aunt, teacher, coach, mentor,…all the guiding words applied, but I'd not been 'mother.' The deepest part of me knew it was a sacred choice, and I didn't believe I was up to the challenges posed by that choice. Nobody ever told me mothers fall in love with their babies if they're lucky, and I was dumbstruck by the overwhelming feeling of love the moment I held my daughter in my arms. Now 28 years later I realize that mothers' day to me is a day to be grateful for the experience of this unique love, which mainly requires an open heart.
Thank you, Heather. Happy Mother’s Day to you. I never had a « belly born » child, but I mothered a generation of public school children in NYC from 1974-2010. A great life and a great career. Thank you for mentioning your « mothers ».
Thank you, Elisabeth. What a contribution you made, teaching with ❤️ for 36 years! Luckily, teaching provides a ‘wealth’ of its own rewards. Happy Mother’s Day.
So many of my little kindergarteners call me mom! Teachers are close to their students!
Thank you for being there and guiding students!
Denise, Standing up for teachers after the mean comments about them after(?) Covid. Your comment is why! With more and more mothers in the workforce, teachers spend more time (dare I say quality time) with children than their mothers. Even when mothers were only “housewives,” this was often true. As humans, we are all learners, so all our teachers are important, but in the huge complication that is the current world, it is school teachers who give us tools and courage to grow into our best selves.
I should have written the Cicero quotation about knowing history so I can write it every day. Professor Richardson is mothering all of us.
I was fortunate enough to be able to stay home with my own until they were in school. But most women can’t afford to do that. Their income is crucial to the household. Unfortunately now, parents are being told they are educational experts and should therefore oversee their child’s education in detail. Pick a lane ‘rents! Go get an education degree or leave it to the experts! Ha! And hello teaching isn’t for everyone! With less than two weeks left my patience is limited! Imagine if you didn’t love it! Thanks for the support of all teachers! From kinder to college!
Yes! “Go get an education degree or leave it to the experts!” Home schoolers should have the same credentialing requirements as public school teachers.
Good luck with that!
Right. Just one more good thing that’s not gonna happen because 60% of white Americans are a pox on humanity.
It’s a liberal arts degree that produces the best teachers. Many education degrees are about testing and are not useful teaching tools. If a teacher is not taught by the best, i.e., teachers who have been educated with history, civics, foreign languages, basic sciences, how can a student learn to teach? I had a wonderful Radcliffe educated French teacher. Although I could never emulate her to my satisfaction when I taught French language and literature, I did my best. Education departments are not where the best education is to be found.
Virginia, in Idaho our Republican governor has stated he is giving teachers on average a $6300.00 dollar raise by cutting taxes because his most important goal is making education his highest priority. Also law enforcement officers will be getting a$6000.00 raise by cutting taxes so he can continue to send delegations to the Mexican border to help curtail immigration. His perspective is that Biden has no right to govern and if we can put Idaho first nationally in every category as he has done by cutting taxes we will have Trump back to get the nation in control of religious white national values. I really don’t suspect that our 13% Hispanic population will be getting much in the way of tax cuts even as they are the factor contributing the most significant productivity for their population density. Good on teachers though.
Really? It's because our teachers were so poorly paid they were quitting and leaving the state.
That was his state of the state address in 2023. He has a perfect way of stating almost nothing and taking credit for it. I can’t see him so I’m loath to trust him. Teachers are long long overdue in Idaho. One of the fixes for the teacher shortage has been the shake and bake creation and certification of non- credentialed teachers through a suedo-mentoring production process. What they lack is an educational backgrounding and certification.
This is a terrifying approach to the education problem. There is nothing about the proliferation of school shootings, for example.
Good on truth-tellers every day of the week. Thank you, Pat Cole.
You’ve got that right!
The first time one of my second graders called me “Mom” I knew I’d arrived. 🥰
When I taught fourth grade, the kids often called me Mom. The boys would be embarrassed by their slip up, but we just laughed. I also had each child give me a "good-bye" as they left the classroom at the end of the day. They could choose a handshake, a high five, or a hug. A surprising number of the kids chose to hug me. What a joy! Later, when I moved to teaching sixth grade, I still had kids who called me "mom". It warmed my heart.
Two of the most important women in my life were teachers (Sybil Redmond in high school and Nancy Mitchell in college). I still think of them with love and gratitude. I'm sure in those 36 years you have touched many children in a similar way. You have mothered many. Thanks for inspiring good memories.
This is a great remembrance for all those women who have been mothers of their own children and the children of others. I also have no children, but several ex-students who are dear to me that I hopefully helped along the way. One of them and her mother recently took me out for high tea to celebrate my 80th. I also had several teachers, who acted as mothers and were life long friends. I was able to care for one of them when she became elderly. With gratitude for Heather, for all of you, for my teacher mothers, and my ex-students who have filled my life with joy as I have watched them become mothers (or not) and walk their roads.
I am almost 71 years old and still remember my kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Reed. I even have a picture of her. My teachers were always my heroes, a sentiment that burns bright to this very day (I am a lifelong student).
Happy Mother's Day to all who have ever nourished and cared for a fellow creature, especially a child.
Front and foremost, Happy Mother's Day to our dear and irreplaceable Mother Earth.
I'm almost 70 and I had Miss Reed for kindergarten. (Actually, I don't know how she spelled her last name, but that's how it was pronounced.) Good teachers are worth their weight in gold.
And I bet you were a second mother to generations of people!
You were absolutely a "mother" to all of your "children". Thank you for loving, guiding and inspiring your students.
Thank you, Elizabeth, for all that you did. It reminds me to thank Doris Cozart and Mary Adams who were there for me.
Indeed; thank you Liz for your incredible service to human kind, and your wishes for our Dr. HCR - sentiments I share.
You are so sweet, D4N. Thank you. I just heard from a student, a doctor, whose daughter just graduated from college and is admitted to U of Michigan for PhD studies. So rewarding to hear these wonderful outcomes.
Thank you for your service happy mother’s Day
A beautiful memory and a great read. Thanks.
I was a late in life baby. My mother who had to work left my upbringing to my stepsister who was ten years older than me. "Dodee" because I could pronounce "Joyce" would wheel me around the neighborhood, showing off my long red curls to everyone she encountered. Later she would create art project as presents for me. She styled my hair in a "D.A." I would experiment with her perfume bottle creating new fragrances, much to her dismay. Her "HiFI" record player was shared with me and we listened to Elvis singing "You Ain't Nothin' But A Hound Dog" for hours on end. She was always coming to my defense when my mother would become angry at me. Tensions with my mother drove her to move to Southern California to become a key punch operator. Thank you Joyce, my mother.
My brother's favorite song when he was 3 years old!
Mine too, same age.
That was just a wonderful read. Thank you and Happy Mother's Day to all the Mothers out there whether you are a mother to your children or to someone else's.
During my years working at all levels of public school, I met many women (mothers) who should never have been allowed around young children. Every year on Mother’s Day, I think of these women and how some do great harm to their offspring. Then there are those who provide motherly love to needy, damaged little souls and to those they meet by “chance and affinity.” Thank you for highlighting those who care and guide without an agenda.
Motherhood comes in so many forms and expressions, one often neglects to recognize our “mothers” until after their influence in our lives survives their anatomical existence. My biological mother died unexpectedly when I was 16. I never had the opportunity to show her how much I truly loved her, nor to ask for her forgiveness having lost her amid my most rebellious teenage years.
An only child living alone (my father had left us years before), surrogate mothers immediately filled in, starting with my mother’s sisters, who took turns imperceptibly coaching me wisely about womanhood and life.
As I grew older and left my hometown, other elderly women (neighbors, coworkers, friends’ mothers, my mother-in-law) stepped in, successfully guiding me throughout the difficult phases of what otherwise could have become a troubled life.
Now a happily retired elder myself, soon to be getting married to a wonderful man with whom I plan to enjoy a golden age, like Heather, I am grateful for and celebrate the women who showered me with the boundless, overflowing motherly love that I, in turn, have since bestowed upon the adoptive daughters who have richly blessed and now fulfill my existence…
Best wishes to you for a happily married golden age.
How wonderful! Best wishes for a lovely golden years time.
Thank you, Ann, Barbara and Ally!
Oh such joy!!!!
Thank you for this beautiful story and for your message today — there are many kinds of mothering done by many kinds of people.
My mother was also my FRIEND, although some parenting experts say that that shouldn't happen.
Balls! My mother was my god til the very end....a great, great woman. Thank god she liked me!
I turned my mom's hair PREMATURELY GREY with some of the CRAP that I pulled & some stuff that I said ( don't use profanity as a kid when mom is watching.... ), but we mostly had an unusually good relationship. My stepmother was a barely - educated redneck & we didn't see eye to eye on ANYTHING. Zip, zed, Zero, goose - egg.
That last sentence is a keeper, met a guy who said his mother admitted at the end that she never liked him from day one. And he felt it every day…
OMG that is sad to the nth degree.
There are far too many reluctant mothers—and both they and their children suffer every day.
My mom and I are friends in a way, and it feels great!
That's FANTASTIC ! OTOH, my stepmom was an Evangelical hitwoman whose mission was to blast joy between the eyes.
I had two stepmothers. The first one was a sociopath who married my dad for his money and ran him dry. The second was much better for him although she and I were sometimes at odds, partly because she didn't like having her routine disturbed which meant my visits were a problem. One mother's day not too long after my father married her, my hubby and I had a little too much to drink and sent flowers to his mother, his grandmother(he called her Bo Grumpus), and my stepmother. I got a note from her, not thanking us, but telling me she wasn't my mother. That put an end to any flowers after that.
My stepmom treated me like some kind of ALIEN PET ( ! ) left over from before he remarried. There's a whole other story, I met her daughter then my dad got engaged to her mom, & that pretty much tossed some monkey wrenches into the works. There were a few positive moments, but my stepmom was more than a LITTLE TOXIC re. : me.
Hitwoman is as good as step-monster (heard from kid in jr high). He was right
I would've said " moonfaced assassin of joy " ( from a TV show that I used to watch ). but her facial structure was angular. A piddling small technicality / nitpick, I know.....
Your words describing your stepmom perfectly apply to those evil Moms for Liberty attacking books. May I copy and paste in my responses to their rants? Thanx
I have waited ere long for such a noble cause ! Yea, verily, go forthwith with alacrity !
Surely Shakespeare spinneth in his grave over butchering Elizabethan English.
Quite a description, Daniel. Do you follow Frank Schaeffer on FB? “…blast joy between the eyes” is so visceral….
I RARELY use FB or Twitter. I was cajoled into joining FB by my aunt, who is part of a special interest group there. But so much of social media seems like a Mulligan's Stew, Mulligatawny ( try typing THAT after being awake when other sensible people are sleeping. ) of white noise.
lol. Thanks, Daniel. Good one!
Daniel, as I try to establish a durable friendship with my daughter (the old mother-son, father-daughter reality at play here), it’s good to read your statement. My husband’s mother was a friend to him, which helped him to be his best self and to be a wonderful husband.
Whether one is adopted or a biological child, the parent -child thing can be difficult to navigate ( I'm not a psychologist, I just pick up on things ). Picking up a satellite that splashed down & landed on the ocean floor using a PLUNGER would be easier.
Well then…..they’re not parenting experts are they😊
I think it depends on how you befriend your child. My mom called me her friend and told me things that would have been better shared with a peer. As an adult I witnessed many mother, daughter friendships. The qualifier is that you become peers at a certain point. My mom wanted a friend when we weren’t equals....mother, child but didn’t want me to grow up and have a woman to woman relationship with her. Consequently, her response to my maturing was to triangulate which damaged other relationships for me.
My relationship with my stepmom was like walking through a minefield where they kept switching the mines. & she had a nasty penchant for listening in on private conversations. She didn't believe in privacy very much.
In other words, she had no respect for boundaries. She must have been very insecure.
I wish that my cousin had an " inner child ", she acts like almost everything is business & she makes Mr. Spock & Cmdr. Data ( & perhaps Lt. Cmdr. Worf - yep, I'm a GEEK ) look like a comedy duo or trio.
She has a truckload of unresolved issues & she thinks that Evangelical Christianity will take care of everything. Farewell, critical thinking.....
One of my grands has that aspect, I remember my daughter saying that she had an old soul in the hospital soon after birth. She still does
I think that I might visit that link that you posted. I can be passive - aggressive at times & my OCD is moderate. Thanks !
You are undoubtedly right, Agnieszka. I completely agree with you.
I was never a "real" mother, "only" a stepmother. That was pointed out to me many times under many circumstances and it bothered me a lot. I talked about it once with my friend George and he said, "For heavens' sake, Louanne! You mother everyone you know!"
Mother is a verb.
Indeed a verb, and basically a good one.
Beautiful story, Heather. I to have a lot of “mothers” but, ironically, of my mother, all my aunts, grandmothers, the one I think about on this day is the lady that actually raised me. The lady that actually molded me to what I am, what I became. That lady was our maid, Jennie Warren. A black lady whose husband, Frank, worked for my dad on the farm.
Every morning, when I was young, in school, she would see to it I had breakfast and was well dressed for school. When I got home, she saw to it there was something to snack on, my homework was done, then afterwards made sure baths were done and in bed on time.
She always had stories to tell. About slavery, the life on the farm during the slavery times, and all. She was a walking history lesson to me.
But, on this Mother’s Day of 2023 I want to wish all the ladies, and you, a very happy, safe, and most of all enjoyable day. You ladies definitely deserve it!
In todays Reuters, a factoid; 88% of women who bore children consider motherhood to have been the most important role of their lives. My mom, about to turn 95, raised 5 of her own and a neighborhoods worth of friends. She is at the very top of the pinnacle in the pantheon of my heroes.
Observing my own mother, motherhood isn't for people without intestinal fortitude & wisdom & God knows what else.
Good wishes to your mother and the offspring who received her nurturing. My mother is the same age and raised many children, too. Her life was filled with work: farmwork, housework, tending babies. Now she reaps the love and affection she showed us every day.
Heather, many of your memories reflect the women in my life, including "Mother Ann" Fernald on Islesford.
My grandmother, at 93 and living in her home state of Florida, invited her pastor to her home for coffee and cake. A perfectionist at everything she put her mind to, she had laid out a spread. She couldn't drive anymore due to leg issues. During the course of their conversation (the pastor told this at her funeral), she said to him, "You know, Pastor, I think I'm ready to die." "Why, Bessie?" You can watch the Sunday service on TV!" "That's got nothing to do with it," she said. "I can't drive to my Bridge game." A couple of weeks later, she was gone, but never forgotten.
Sally epitomizes the saying “May her memory be a blessing.” Thank you for sharing that blessing with us. Happy Mother’s Day.
Happy Mother’s Day, Heather!
Happy Mother's Day to you, too, Judith!🧡
Happy Mothers' Day all. I am visiting with friends who are voting today here in Bremen, Germany. What a befitting activity on Mothers' Day.
Happy Mothers' Day, Linda!🧡
What a woman. You have her look about you. A stunningly beautiful family too
I was thinking how much Heather resembles her, too. Two beautiful women.
I planned on saying this very thing if no one else had! Yes, Heather indeed resembles her. Both beautiful, intelligent looking women.
I thought it was Heather! We learn so much from the people in our lives! I hope they feel our gratitude.
Thank you for this lovely rememberance. Being a mother is a sacred choice and is not limited to 2 legged children or children born to us.
I love “ Being a mother is a sacred choice…” Yes, it surely is, and one I avoided until age 56, when I agreed to become an adoptive mother. I'd been aunt, teacher, coach, mentor,…all the guiding words applied, but I'd not been 'mother.' The deepest part of me knew it was a sacred choice, and I didn't believe I was up to the challenges posed by that choice. Nobody ever told me mothers fall in love with their babies if they're lucky, and I was dumbstruck by the overwhelming feeling of love the moment I held my daughter in my arms. Now 28 years later I realize that mothers' day to me is a day to be grateful for the experience of this unique love, which mainly requires an open heart.
Thank you for sharing. ❤️