Nobody loves me as thoughtfully as my mom. I've discussed this time and time again with my friends.
Fathers love in a very special way, and I wouldn't trade my relationship with my dad for anything!!! I'll write a separate post one of these days about how much that relationship means to me.
Significant Others are romantic and wonderful, and the love they provide is completely different, and COMPLETELY appreciated.
Even the femininity my girlfriends provide is absolutely delightful, but can't compare to the selflessness that my mom provides when really listening to a particular situation I'm struggling with.
MOMS remember things. They have this uncanny way of knowing exactly what to do and when to do it. They know which items will substitute in recipes. They know when you're up to something you shouldn't be, and they know when they need to lay off the advice and just be there (and it seems my mom is getting better at this every year).
I was reading a
friend's blogpost about mothers this morning, and she was writing about how having children changed the way she viewed her mom. I don't have kids yet (other than you, sweet little Tedward), but the way I perceive my mom has already changed drastically just from growing up. I realize more and more that my mom is a PERSON. For over twenty years I thought of her as only capable of playing one role in this 'movie' we call life, and that role was SUPERMOM. I think part of this is because she lost her mom at such an early age (my mom was 9 months pregnant, and only 27...thinking about the pain she endured when she got a sudden phone call that her mother was dead absolutely terrifies me...sometimes I even feel a panic attack coming on and I have to turn on the television or read a book to distract my mind from getting carried away). I think since I didn't really witness my mom in the "daughter" role, and she always put "mother" ahead of "wife" (at least in front of me and my sister), I had a limited view of WHO SHE WAS. Realizing that she has FRIENDS, and a HUSBAND, and a CAREER...these all make her more REAL to me, more of a real person, and not just a "mother" role.
I love the person that my mom is, and I love the role she played and continues to play in my life. Losing her terrifies me beyond belief and I extend my deepest condolences to anybody, INCLUDING MY MOM, who has lost a mother. I imagine Mother's Day (especially the first Mother's Day after the passing of a mom) is a holiday that pours salt in a wound for people who no longer have their mom in the physical form. I hope that this day, no matter where anybody is, we can all take time to pause and feel gratitude for the women that brought us into this life. Mothers are vessels that bring us into this plane. The love they feel outweighs that of any other human being on the planet, because they BROUGHT us here. Teenage daughters and moms sometimes want to claw eachother's eyes out, this is normal and natural (ha!), but hopefully one learns over time that all the mother ever wants is to do a good job raising a contributing human being in this very strange world.
Thank you so much, Mommy, for everything. I'm crazy in love with you, and would be absolutely lost if you hadn't been such an important force in my life. I'm turning into you more and more each day, whether I like it or not. But I'm starting to like it more and more!
And Mommy,
I know I bought you a sweater for Mother's Day that was an apparent bust, but here's another gift straight from the heart (and iMac addiction):