My editor at the Pocono Record asked those of us who write for Monroe Pike Life to send him our reflections on being a mom. Mine are below.
What are your thoughts- on being a mom, a dad, a relative- thoughts on the responsibilities and unexpected joys of caring for children?
Elizabeth Stone said having a child is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. For me, that sums up being a mom perfectly, both the joys and heartaches.
Being a mom changes your entire perspective. Introducing the world to your children is like seeing things for the first time yourself — the beautiful parts you can’t wait to share; the ugliness you do everything you can to protect them from experiencing. My greatest joys have come from watching my children grow and thrive, watching them figure life out and make their lives their own. My greatest heartaches have come from the times they have suffered and there was nothing I could do to make it better. My greatest fears are of losing them, an incomprehensible sorrow that so many mothers, including my own, feel freshly this time of year.
Most days being a mom has taught me that I can love, give and forgive more than I ever thought possible. Too many days it’s taught me humility by how short I fall from being the mom I want to be. The beauty is that, in loving our children, on their good days and bad, we can understand and appreciate more deeply God’s unconditional love for us.
When my kids were little, all I wanted to do on Mother’s Day was sit in peace by myself and read the entire Sunday paper. Now that they are grown, the best Mother’s Days — the best any days — are days I can spend with them. It doesn’t happen as often any more, especially with one serving in Afghanistan, so I cherish the times we can be together. My son recently apologized for asking me for help with something; he thought he was bothering me. But he had no idea how happy it makes me to know that at 26 he still needs me.
This Mother’s Day, like every year, we’ll share brunch with my mom and dad. My dad will have corsages to honor the moms, as he has done for as many years as I can remember. We’ll celebrate the wonderful woman my mother is — and I’ll be sure to remind her that I still need her and always will.
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