I have a physician friend who’s specialty is infertility. Once she posted on Facebook that she was working on Mother’s Day to help other women become mothers. It’s one of the best things I’ve ever seen posted on Mother’s Day and I commend her for it. This morning when I woke up at 0700, the first thing I thought about was how social media was going to be flooded with Mother’s Day posts, not only celebrating our own mothers, but also celebrating being mothers. My heart truly aches for women who haven’t been able to conceive a child and have constant reminders of that everyday of their lives. I wonder why God blesses some women with children and others not. Unfortunately, only God knows the answer to that.
I remembered the mothers who’s children have died before them. I thought about people who’s mothers have died and hoped they were watching from Heaven. I prayed for all of these types of people today before I went about actually celebrating my own Mother’s Day.
I attended 1100 Mass today at our church. My daughter is a member of the youth band there and once a month they play during the 1100 Mass to give the Contemporary Band a week off. We arrived at 1015 and instead of dropping my daughter off and going back home and coming back, I stayed in the pew.
I thought about my relationship with my own mother. When I was a teenager, she wasn’t my friend, she was my mother. She was a tough love kind of mother and that’s what I needed. We had a saying, “I don’t like you, but I love you”. We became friends later after I’d graduated college and I wasn’t such a smart ass anymore. She once told me that I have raised my children very similar to the way my brother and I were raised. That’s one of the best compliments she’s ever given me. I thought about my grandmothers. They taught me how to be the better person, how to be a good Catholic and taught me the Sicilian customs every Sicilian woman should know. They are both gone but still with me in my thoughts and actions. I thought about my Godmother and how she is a nurse and she inspired me to become a nurse when I was only four years old. When I earned my Bachelor of Science in Nursing with a 3.904 GPA, I purchased an extra set of my Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honor Society Honor Cords and sent them to her.
Finally, I reflected upon my own motherhood. I can honestly say I’ve enjoyed each phase of my children’s lives: Newborn. Infancy. Toddler. Pre School. School Age. Teenager because each of them came with their own set of challenges and rewards. Running teenagers around after a busy work day is just as exhausting as a newborn that doesn’t sleep or an irrational toddler that tests every ounce of patience you have.
It’s all gone by so fast and my husband and I are thankful for every moment our kids want to spend with us. I have a freshman in college who doesn’t know if he’ll go on to graduate school or medical school after his bachelor’s degree or come back home to look for a job and my freshman in high school who says she’s, “so out of here” when she goes off to college. To me, it hasn’t been a job, it’s been a privilege. Somewhere in heaven upon conception, their souls chose me as their mother.
As Mass ended, the Priest gave all the moms a special blessing and sent us on our way. My mother’s day was nice. Naps, good food and quality family time. I am a lucky girl.
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