The Day After Mother's Day

Our Mother’s Day program at Church every year is fantastic. They have all the graduating seniors speak about their mothers and they do it with humor and a refreshing lack of sentimentality. It is my favorite Church meeting of the whole year. Yesterday there were eleven young people and so each had only a few minutes. This means that no one had time to read sappy poems or stories. They simply told what they liked about their mothers in honest ways. One young man was especially delightful. He said he began to prepare by listing his mother’s good traits, but the list was getting so long he decided to list her bad traits. He then listed four very minor (but hilarious!) faults and then said that’s all he could think of.

Yesterday, as I listened I was struck by the fact that I know all eleven of the women being talked about fairly well. They are all very, very different. Yet every single young person declared their love for their mother and said that their mother was the very best.

As women we too often judge ourselves by what others are doing. We think we aren’t good enough mothers, and that we ought to be more like other women. But if these kids are right (and I think they are!) we just need to be ourselves. We are the best mother for our children, and they are the best children for us. After all, mothering isn't all about us being supreme commanders. Motherhood is a learning experience and my children taught me much more than I ever taught them.

Picture: http:billarnold.typepad.com > Portraits