Today is Mothers' Day and on today I give honor to my mother, my sister, my mother-in-law, my three late grandmothers, my step-mother, my aunts. I give honor to my daughters and the "mothers"--broadly speaking--they will some day become. I also give honor to myself, to the mother that I have become and still hope to be--while also forgiving the mother that I have often been unintentionally and unwantedly.
I awakened this morning to the familiar sound of my daughters' door opening: the space previously filled by early morning peace and my half-doze being replaced with a hinge-creek followed by the environmental machine in their room's impersonation of raindrops and quiet footsteps down the hall.
Later. I opened the tissue-paper-wrapped placemats my daughters made for me at school ("Those flowers on the mat, Mommy, are vangos ["Sunflowers" by Van Gogh]") and decifered the invented spellings on the cards they had carefully penned. I sat down and was served breakfast by my husband. I came in to the office for "mommy time" and (should be) "working time."
Still later. Slowly the stacks on my desk began to disappear. At each mini-milestone I rewarded myself with a song or book chapter on my iPod, a bag of popcorn, or a cruise through my blogroll to get caught up on some very insightful posts.
At that last, several other bloggers today are celebrating their mothers. One of my favorite bloggers honored hers in a very special way: By celebrating her own life. So far she has posted her story up to high school. She says her Mothers' Day greeting "interrupts" her scheduled life story narrative, but I see it as all an honoring. How proud her Mom must be to read, across the miles, her daughter giving voice to her childhood.
I've borrowed the title for my blog post today from this very special mother. She also commented: "The energy needed to speak a good life is the same energy needed to speak a bad life."
Today is Mothers' Day and on today I honor all women who have gifted their children with the power and will to speak good life.
Posted by perry032 at May 8, 2005 03:38 PM | TrackBackNice post... I like that bit from Ms.World, whose blog I stumbled on once long ago but which I'd forgotten all about. I think I have such a mother (and father) and I agree that is one of the great gifts a parent can give...
Welcome back—and happy Mother's Day.
Posted by: Ben G. at May 8, 2005 05:30 PMThanks for the shout out! I'm glad you got some "Vangos" (I love that).
Posted by: Ms. World at May 10, 2005 10:13 AMThanks for the great comments about honoring "Mothers"! I enjoyed reading about your Mother's Day gifts. Your beautiful daughters are very blessed to have you for their mother and (getting ready for Father's Day): they are also blessed to have Larry as their father!!!
Love,
Mom
Hi,
It sounds like you had a great Mother's Day. Thanks for honoring all of us Moms. Your daughters are blessed to have such a great Mom!!! Keep up the good work!!
Posted by: Andrea Lacy Perry at June 1, 2005 04:40 PM