"The Pride of Motherhood"
May 8, 1999
"The Pride of Motherhood"
Women all over the States will sprout garish corsages on their chests and eat lavish buffets tomorrow as children acknowledge their mothers. Some mothers will read and cry over sappy Hallmark cards filled with schmaltzy poems reminiscent of Edgar Guest. Hopefully I will always be spared such treatment; I am much more the type to want and deserve the sassy, wise-ass joke card my own mother would have shuddered to read.
I love the attention on Mother's Day, but sometimes I wonder if my own children would even remember if it weren't for their sweet, wonderful father. When he stated last week that he hadn't gotten me anything yet for Mother's Day, I had to remind him that I wasn't his mother.
I really don't mind, because in truth I think what should be paramount on Mother's Day is acknowledging what got us here in the first place: our children. I love my children, and they continually amaze me with their talents and creativity and brilliance. I don't just think that they will go far--I KNOW they will, because they are both imbued with a spirit of adventure and compassion. My kids know how to love life, and I view them as mature, capable young adults.
Neither of my children plans on a 9 to 5, lucrative career. That's not to say that they don't hope to be financially successful, but their dreams at the moment have no guarantee of accumulating wealth. Proudly, my husband and I support our children, emotionally and financially, in their quests for creative careers. My daughter favors writing and psychology with thoughts of grad school, and my son longs to write, produce, and create films. It's exciting.
To me, Mother's Day can too easily be turned into one more chance to work on guilt with your children. "Ha! You forgot your dear, sweet mother again?!" Mothers aren't martyrs (though any good parent would truly do anything for a son or daughter) and shouldn't act like them. Mothers are role models, friends, confidants, annoyances, and protectors, and the children that we raise, if we do our job well, reflect the best of our efforts. I like what I see.