Family & FIT | Debbie Hatch
My husband and I were talking about Mother’s Day, on the plane, yesterday.
It generally makes me sad. I can’t talk to my mom because it puts her at risk when I do. Domestic abuse is a very real and immensely complicated thing. Please don’t judge, or give advice. You have no right; and neither do I at this point. Please don’t say, “she should just leave.” It’s not that easy. She has. Multiple times. It breaks my heart but I remember, vividly, how much it broke her mother’s heart.
That’s not my point.
My point is, I don’t think Mother’s Day is about me.
It’s about her.
It’s about MY mom. It’s about YOURS.
I don’t think I should feel guilty that I have children, that they are healthy; nor that they themselves have decided to have, and are able to have, offspring. I’m not a selfish person but I don’t think the day was created to make those who can’t (or don’t want to……….no, not everyone wants to be a parent. Surprise!) have children, feel “less than”.
I can’t imagine a life without my children;
I wouldn’t be alive without my mom – and a whole string of moms before her.
Mother’s Day is a day to celebrate OUR mothers.
Birth or otherwise.
This is not just my opinion. In at least one version of the historical start to Mother’s Day, it was created by a woman who did not have children, herself. Like so many things, it wasn’t about cards, flowers, or gifts. It wasn’t about commercialism. It was about care.
It is a day to celebrate the woman who gave birth to us, or raised us, or took the roll of our mother. It is about the woman / women in our lives who made a difference.
Your mother may not be with you any longer; and you may miss her very much. When I’m gone, I hope
the day is not sad for my children. I hope they view it as a day to remember me, even more often than they normally do.
I hope they get together and reminisce about all of the memories we made and that they will know, without one single question, how very much I loved them. I hope they’re happy we shared some life together.
You may adore your mother, or despise her. You may blame her for all of your shortcomings; or praise her for a hand in your accomplishments. She may not have done what you think she should have as a mother, or even a person. Or perhaps she was amazing and you strive to be exactly like her.
Maybe you mothered her more than she did you.
But she IS your mother.
Maybe today we take 24 hours off from judging other women for the way they mother? Maybe we say, “She’s doing the best she can with what she has (money, time, emotional ability, background, energy, etc).
Happy Mother’s Day.