Motherhood in action.
As the saying goes, a mother’s work is never finished. Which indeed is likely true. The work only changes with time.
Ask any mother with grown children and the sentiments of: “the days are long, the years are short” and “enjoy this time when they are young, before you know it they’ll be grown & gone” - are truer with every passing milestone, birthday, first & last day of school our children have.
That does not make the late nights or early mornings with sick, sleepless, or teenage children easier, or frustrated, tantruming children less wearing. We must endure the growing pains our children experience along with them. The fears and worry we hold for them are exhausting and heartbreaking. The hardest lessons we know they must learn are not always ones we can teach them - they are ones they must learn on their own.
We’re sustained though the challenges of motherhood by the hope our love, intentions, and actions will be enough. Along the way, we are filled up by the occasional moments when our hard-earned wisdom is respected & the times our motherly advice falls on listening ears. Our pride and appreciation is deep when we see our children’s successes - both big and little. From the time they learn to ride a bike, to times they tell the truth in a hard situation, to when they land their dream job. All of this and so much more, allow mothers to exhale in relief. Our work and our words have made an impact. The hours, days, years wondering if we were doing it right...the silent-prayers, the held-tongues, the well-meaning advice...made a difference.
For many, Mother’s Day is a day of sweet celebration. Though for just as many, the day also holds grief: for mothers & children who have passed, for the babies who were never held, and mother-child relationships that are strained. It can also hold stress and sadness for the many women who face the motherhood alone.
Even though we are all at the table of motherhood with different challenges, backgrounds, and circumstances, we are at this collective table together. We have more in common than we may realize, and we are more alike than different.
While our “villages’ may have changed over the years - they are more important that ever. The support & encouragement we give each other will carry forward to benefit the next generations. Motherhood is defined by much more than biology. Motherhood in action is: to look after someone kindly & protectively.
We have the celebrated distinction of being women, therefore mothers, to our own children, to our extended families, to our friends, to our communities. We hold so much influence and worth - let us all honor these truths in each other and in ourselves. Today and every day.
-Tania Harrison