Motherhood

Somethingrecently happened to a close friend of the family that made me givemore thought than usual to motherhood. Our children likely take itfor granted that mom will always be there for them. I felt that waymyself through most of my life. But in the case of my friend, herdaughter-in-law gave birth to a beautiful baby girl just a week agoand all was fine … they thought. 6 days later the mommy died …totally unexpected. It was a huge shock to the family. The ordeal ofa difficult birth did more damage than anyone realized, and herorgans suddenly shut down, leaving her husband with a son almost 4years old, another son only 2, and now a brand new baby girl to carefor. Mommy was a fabulous mom who did all kinds of activities withher youngsters, was all set up to home school them, and in so manyways went beyond the norm to be a good mother … and now she’sgone. The baby girl will never know what a wonderful person her mommywas.

Haveyou ever watched a Killdeer running back and forth and squawking herhead off almost constantly if you get anywhere near her eggs?Killdeers lay their eggs in rocks or gravel, and they can be veryannoying as they give out an endless piercing cry to protect theireggs or the babies that come out of them. Robins can be annoying,too, if they build a nest on your front porch. The mother will fly inand out, swooping very close to your head if you are sitting on theporch. She is trying to warn you to back off. And, of course, we havealways heard never to get too close to the babies of any wildanimals. The mother might attack, especially mother bears. All theyare doing is protecting their young, just like human mothers do.

Iknow Mother’s Day is over, but every day should be Mother’s Day.Mothers do so much to love, care for and protect their childrenphysically, emotionally, and sometimes financially. Often, when achild reaches 12 – 18 years in age, mom continues to push for toomany hugs because there is nothing she loves more than hugs from herbabies, but then the child becomes more proud and independent and nolonger wants those hugs. He or she hides their head when riding withmom to school or a ballgame. They don’t want to be seen with aparent, especially a clinging mom. Heaven forbid mom should lean infor a kiss on the cheek in front of others. That’s when Momrealizes it’s time to let go.

Butwe never let go, do we? It’s impossible. That child could now be 50years old, but to mom he is her “child.” It helps when we havegrandchildren and great-grandchildren to dote on, but the soulconnection of mother and child is very strong. And eventually,the child who didn’t want hugs in front of their friends comes backaround and begins to appreciate mom all over again. The sad part is,we appreciate our mothers more than ever once they are gone. I wish Icould have a second chance with my mom, to tell her all the things Ishould have told her when she was here with me, a chance to give herall the extra hugs I should have given her then.

Withthis recent loss of a baby’s mommy, it hit me how lucky I am tohave known my own mom all my life. There is a little baby girl outthere now who will never have a true “mommy,” and two little boyswho will be wondering why mommy will never come home again. I can’timagine what that would feel like.

So,treasure mother and thank God that you were blessed with her presenceand her love for most of your life.

HappyMother’s Day to all of you each and every day … not just one daya year.