Mothers Day
So Mother’s Day has come and gone for another year.
Those of you who are not a mum or who don’t have a mum may say…………so what, but I think most of you will have some sort of a connection for one reason or another with a mother of some sort.
For me………….I have a mother, a mother-in-law, a step mother-in-law and I am a mother to boot, so I guess you could say I have a “full hand”.
Being a mother is not all it’s cracked up to be. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my kids and enjoy their company immensely, but I am finding that the older they get, the more difficult it isfor me to protect them from the trialls and tribulations of life, and that can be hard!
I don’t want to keep them “wrapped in cotton wool”, but I hate seeing them sad, anxious or struggling. I want to make things good for them. I want them to be happy, healthy and safe.
When they are little, you can’t wait for their next milestone. You want them to smile, to crawl, to walk, to talk. But before you can blink they have boyfriends/girlfriends, their hearts are being broken, they fall prey to people who take them for granted, they are deceived and hurt……………..AND THERE’S NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO PROTECT THEM.
The one bummer about being a mum when your kids are grown up is…………….it doesnt matter how old they are, you want to protect them and you can’t. You have to let them live, and living means trusting people you probably shouldnt trust, trying things you probably shouldnt try and feeling the joys of love and the distress of heartbreak.
I guess the one thing I’ve learned is that my kids have to do things their way, without interference from me, but that I need to make sure I’m around when they need a hug, a loan or someone to come with a truck to move their stuff from a disasterous ‘house share’ arrangement!
The weird thing is I can remember my mother saying to me when I was in my early 20’s that it gets harder, not easier as your kids grow up………………I never thought I’d see the day when I actually agreed with anything my mum said!
So I spent Mothers Day with two of my georgeous kids and spoke to the third one via sattelite phone (he’s in the ‘outback’ doing geological surveys). I laughed with them, talked and joked and remembered how very lucky I was to have three wonderful kids who I could worry about…………………lots of people don’t have that privalege!
So to the Mum’s out there……………..I hope you had a great day with your kids. To the kids out there………….remember, before you can blink you will find yourself with kids of your own and all of a sudden the words of your own mother won’t seem like ‘crap’ anymore, because you will understand them for the wisdom they contain!
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY