To All The Mothers

(Warning - Opinions ahead, of a slightly religious nature. Consider yourself warned.)

(BBJ with Lo Gung's Auntie and Uncle Crab...who aren't really related at all, but good friends of Lo Gung's family for as long as anyone can remember.)

I thought about the shadow mothers yesterday. The women for whom Mothers Day has a different meaning than my own. The thought started down a familiar enough path - it's the first Mother's day where my grandmother isn't here. My mother's first mother's day without her mother. Who does my mother celebrate? She took it well - of course she would, but I (on the other side of the country) was a bit of a mess on the way home from church.
(BBJ and Mommy on one of Seattle's beautiful ferries)
I thought about the women who never had a child in the Primary to make them a silly tissue paper flower...and I thought about the women whose children had grown past that stage and forgotten her. I thought about the women who, for whatever reason, could never have a child...and I thought about how much God loves them. I thought about the women who adopted children from other families, cultures or countries. I thought about the women who thought they didn't like to be mothers, and so chose never to marry, have children, talk to children, etc.
(Cousin Ernie feeding BBJ - this used to be the only game the two of them could happily play together.)

I thought about how every girl child has a spark of divinity in her...to mother. We may not all get the CHANCE to exercise that spark within our own homes...but it's still there. I've lost count of how many women have "mothered" me - neighbors, grandmothers at church, even strangers in a parking lot who gave me a knowing smile during a BBJ Epic Meltdown. I cannot take away the pain, but...at this time of year...I can tell them - you're one of us.
(My mother with her first two granddaughters)

For better or for worse, you're one of us, and we're all in this together.

(And a huge thank you to every woman who ever mentored, mothered or taught me. Mom, Myrnie, Peggy, Myrtle, Mrs. Snyder, the lady down the street that taught me to make monkey bread and egg shell tea, Sister Carmen who taught me to embroider, Lynnae who taught me to knit, SheShe who adopted my daughter as her own granddaughter when we were far away from family...the list goes on and on. Thank you.)