Wonderful Mothers

Happy Mother's Day

to all you WONDERFUL Mothers out there!

Yep!
That's what it said.

I just read it on Facebook.

WONDERFUL!

But....

what about all us who were and are less than wonderful,

just doing the best we can do?

Like me - just trying to figure it out as I went along.

Certainly NOT wonderful.

Ann Voskamp of One Thousand Gifts fame, 

expressed my feelings about Mother's Day perfectly

 and much more eloquently than I ever could.  

To read her blog post, Why Mother's Day is for the Birds, click here.

Yes, it really is a Hallmark holiday and a profitable one, too.  

Because - 

Not every mama is honored.

Not every woman is able to become a mama.

Not every mama is a mother by choice.

Not every mama still has her children.

Not every mama is worthy of celebration.

Not everyone has a mama around.

My Grandma was just a tough, plain-spoken pioneer woman.

By the time I knew her, she had buried her husband and six of her 13 babies.

She had also raised five grandchildren when their mama abandoned them.

When I asked how she did it, she said,

"It hurts, but it won't kill you."

Her faith was like her life - plain and strong.

She washed, and she ironed, and she cooked, 

and she cleaned, and she made soap, and she sewed,

 and she drew water from a well and she mothered as best as she could

......and she planted flowers.

When my second baby was born with a death sentence - 

a genetic one - I wanted to know about Grandma's babies.

She wasn't around for me to ask, 

but she came to me in my dreams,

and I found comfort that I could get through it too.

She was around again, when that girl died at 18, 

once again offering her comfort.

My own Mama, the classic farm wife, 

was struck with cancer when her baby was still a baby,

 in days before chemotherapy, radiation, counseling, or support groups.  

They cut her from belly button to back bone, took out the cancer,
 sewed her up, and sent her home.

She recovered and cooked and cleaned and washed and ironed and sewed

and gardened and canned and painted and mothered as best she could

.......and she planted flowers

 Even as a 50 year cancer survivor, she never totally got over the fear.

And until her dying day, she regretted regretting having a baby to take care of
when she was so sick.

But she taught me all those wonderful homemaker skills for raising my family - 

I cooked and I cleaned and I washed and I ironed and I sewed 

and I mothered as best as I could figure out how

...and I planted flowers.

This precious, awesome daughter of mine

has turned the bad mothering she grew up with into good,

and the good into better.

She cooks and she cleans and she washes clothes 

and she's a soccer mom and she homeschools

and she teaches science and she teaches Bible Studies

and she teaches Holy Yoga and she's a wonderful mother

and guess what?

.....she plants flowers too.

Yes, let's celebrate the wonderful moms.

But let's also celebrate and encourage those (like me) who 

don't have a clue what to do with a baby,

the one's with mother hearts and none to mother,

the sons and daughters without a mother,

and the grandma's doing it again. 

Happy Mother's Day!

Plant Some Flowers