Say Hi To Your Mum For Me

While Mother's Day happened yesterday over here, since a few in my handful of readers (is five/six a handful?) live overseas, it's Mother's Day for them as I write this, so it can apply to them.

Really, what can I say about what our mothers do for us? If you're lucky, you've been raised by someone who has genuinely wanted to see you develop into your own person, imparting life lessons along the way and has shown saint-like patience with you through your formative years.

Well, I am one of the lucky ones, since I have two mothers in my life. One who I don't see as often as I should and one I live with while I build up a decent amount of savings to give living on my own another try (not to diminish how much of a good mother she is or anything). But then, when you sit and think about it, aren't all the good women in your life motherly towards you in their own way? Co-workers who impart their wisdom to help you get by in  your job and help you evolve to the next level in said job. Teachers who offer a sympathetic ear when you have no one else to turn to about new and scary concepts in your life, teachers who won't judge and make you feel safe. Aunts who see you as their own offspring, since the connection's not too far off.

While your mother and father, father/father, mother/mother or a solo parent are naturally going to be among the first people you turn to, you can't deny that it takes a collective to provide you with everything you're going to need in life. Your mother can't follow you to work, just like your teacher can't come and live with you.

So, I guess what I'm saying is, while I obviously have two mothers who love and care about me (and even though it's not Father's Day, I'd be remiss in mentioning my father and my mother's boyfriend, both of whom play very important parts in my life), I have more people to thank for me being here. Not here as in "on this Earth" per se, as in, where I am today. I've been taught many things over my life, and I have a Hell of a lot more to go, but I really just want to say, to every loving mother out there: what you do for your children, everything you teach, every sacrifice you make, all the love you give, you cannot be thanked enough for your efforts. But I thank you all, because a parent's love is sometimes all it takes to prevent someone from going down to a deep, dark place. No matter how many times they argue back, no matter how they may defy you in the teenage years, you have stuck by them. Or, you will, if they haven't reached that age yet.

Being a parent is something I could never be, for many reasons, so I can't know what it's like to bring a child up in this world. But to those loving mothers, you are to be commended for doing what I imagine is the hardest thing in the world to do.

So, enjoy this day, even though a day seems paltry compared to what you do over the course of a lifetime.