Time for my annual Mother’s Day column again.
Sunday should be a special day for everyone. It is time to remember that Mom was always there for you when you needed her and time to make her one day of the year something really special.
I’m a mom – and if you think that just might be a hint for my kids, you’re absolutely right!
I don’t know that I am an expert on the subject, but in this family anyway, moms are pretty special people.
Mothers are the people who never get tired of saying, “that’s my daughter (or son); you wouldn’t believe how rotten she was when she was little.”
For years, my Mom would tell anyone who would listen what a spoiled brat I was. One year, I asked her, “If I was, whose fault was that?”
After that she didn’t use the same line anymore – at least not when I was around.
Even when you are all grown up, independent, or even married with six-foot tall kids and an assortment of grandkids, your mother is still apt to introduce you to total strangers by saying, “this is my baby.”
That’s one line I could never get my own Mom to stop using. Now it is my turn – just ask Lisa!
Next to Jack, my Mom was just about the best friend I will ever have. No matter what happened, she was always on my side. A little of that kind of support and you begin to believe you can do just about anything!
She has been gone for many years now, and one of the biggest regrets I have is that I didn’t tell her how much she meant to me nearly often enough.
I spend a lot of time around Mother’s Day looking at old pictures and remembering all of the special times we had together.
I still miss her.
Being a mother today is a whole new ball game. I am really thankful that I was lucky enough to spend my kids’ growing up years in the 70s and 80s. I am not sure I would be able to cope with today’s problems.
For one thing, nearly every family today needs two incomes just to survive. Being an 80s mom was pretty tough. Being a Mom in this century has got to be just about impossible.
Balancing a career and a family has been a major topic for years. I still don’t believe anyone has ever completely solved the dilemma.
We used to solve a lot of problems over the phone and we just did the best we could. I guess we did okay; at least that’s what the kids tell me now.
Even though all of my “babies” are grown up self-reliant people now and I am a grandma (and a great-grandma) eight times over, it is still nice to be needed occasionally. They still sometimes call me when they have a problem, so I guess we are still doing it “over the phone” aren’t we?
Moms are truly special people.
They always worry about everything – your friends, your grades, your plans, your career, your kids – the list goes on and on.
You see, even though being a mother has a beginning, it really never has an end.
Incidentally, you don’t have to have given birth to be a great mom. I know quite a few people who never had kids of their own and still managed to be a “mom” to all kinds of kids.
And, if you are as lucky as we have been, there is just no such thing as a “wicked stepmother.” Jack had a wonderful stepmom who never could seem to remember which were hers and which were his. She even managed to help fill that “gap” in my life after my own mom died. She has always treated us pretty special whether we are hers by birth, marriage or “accident.”
Now that Mother’s Day is here again, it is time for you to tell someone special, mother or not, that you really do appreciate and love them. Tell them now because you never know if you will be able to tell them later.
Happy Mother’s Day!!
