What is Mother’s Day? Is it a day for Hallmark and the flower industry? Or perhaps it’s a single day we stop to say, “Hey Mom, I love you and appreciate what you have done for me.” A day when I acknowledge, “You were not perfect but you did the best you could, with the tools you had at the time.”
Thinking about my own mothering of my children, I know now, I could have been a better mother. I could have given them more time but I had to meet the needs of the entire family, their father and sometimes my own needs.
At one point, I started going back to college when my children were in school. I was graduating with my Bachelors Degree when my oldest graduated from High School and I received my Master’s degree when my youngest graduated from High School. This educational task took time from them but I hope it gave them hope that they could accomplish anything on their own time and to never give up.
My own mother, now 88 years old, is my hope for the future. She is engaged in life, is never home, manages her own finances, drives her younger friends around a major city, house sits for me when I go out of town, and loves the company of her cat that I adopted for her this past Christmas.
We humans (mother’s) are not perfect but we can learn from the past, do our best and hope for the future. We can model “never give up” – we can model “take care of yourself” and most of all we can always say, “I love you unconditionally!”
Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers who strive to always do your best. May the love you give be returned to you and may the love we all have for all children lead to peace all over the world.