My Mom is a strong, smart, nurturing woman. She's funny, she's talented, she's wise---which I categorize differently than smart. My Mom loves unconditionally, listens fully and has incredible empathy. She's a constant, she's a role model, she's an example and she's one of my best friends. She's one of the first people I call with news---good or bad---and hers is one of the opinions I respect the most.
My Mom and I can sit and not talk--okay, not really!--just as easily as we can chat for hours about everything and nothing. We take walks, we watch sports, we catch up on our favorite shows and we love getting together for lunch, dinner, tea or a glass of wine. One of our favorite traditions is to declare Thursday evenings (from April-September) "Girls' Nights--NO boys!" They golf, we gab. And it works out quite nicely.
Without question, one of the traits of my Mom's that I treasure the most is her sense of tradition. From taking birthday pictures and first day of school pictures in the same spot every year to the ritual of loading up a huge shopping bag with little presents to open each day between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Traditions like sitting on the front steps at her house are so simple, but so steeped in memories. She doesn't forget, on the 28th of each month, to remind me how many months it is until my birthday. Holidays? Forget it; there isn't enough time or space to demonstrate the tradition-laden way that we celebrate each and every holiday.
And traditions wouldn't be traditions unless they are shared with the next generation. What my Mom learned from her Mom and then taught me, we are now delighting in teaching my daughter. Abby's all about our Thursday Girls' Nights, she celebrates the 21st of each month (which also happens to be the date of my Mom's birthday; a fact that brings a funny little bond!) and she is firmly entrenched in our holiday rituals as well. At age 3, she made her first pierogie. THAT is tradition!
My Mom is WOW. And there are many other Moms I know and love, too. I admire the single Mom who preserves and encourages her son's relationship with his father despite the ugly side he has shown her throughout and beyond their divorce. I respect the Mom of three who juggles ailing parents, demanding kids' schedules and more than one job. There's the Mom who has a good night conversation with her kids each day--even when she's out of town for work--in which the very last questions are, "What was the best thing about your day?" and "Was there something in your day that wasn't so great?" Abby and I have that conversation now. There's the Mom of two boys; one who had incredible health issues at birth. She spent days at his side in the NICU, days away from her other son, trying to balance it all and make sure they both felt the depth of her love.
Isn't that what it's all about? Love? The love a Mother has for her child(ren) and they have for her is palpable and indescribable and beautiful beyond measure. Often, before I had Abby, I was told that I will never know a love so pure and intense as I will the moment I see and hold my baby for the first time. It's true. What I didn't anticipate was how that feeling, the one I couldn't imagine being any better, does, in fact, get better each and every day as I experience Motherhood.
Happy Mother's Day--Wow!
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