For the mothers
For some reason, this Mother’s Day hits differently from the rest. Having my own now, the definition of the word, and the role has most certainly transformed right before my very eyes, and continues to evolve everyday.
Three months later, and suffice to say, while a lot has remained the same, the greater part of me has changed. I have definitely grown. I am a mother. It is true what they say – life never goes back to how you knew it before having a child. All of a sudden, your priorities shift, waking up at the crack of dawn is no longer a question – you beat your alarm and your snooze because all of a sudden there is a purpose. Your heart, and your everyday is enveloped, and taken over by the presence of ironically the tiniest human being in your household. The demands of the youngest member of the family takes precedence over all other matters, and then nothing else seems to matter as much, or be “too stressful” to handle anymore. You have turned into a mother – in some ways, your own mother – and all of a sudden, you are awakened into what it truly means. Life has taken on another dimension, and its meaning has become more profound than ever.
Sacrificing your wants for the needs of your child becomes second nature overnight. All of a sudden, you will give up everything, and give it all it takes so that your child is comfortable, safe, secure, and in the pink of health. You find yourself begging for the biggest miracle, and it happens to not even be for yourself. There is no thinking twice about the welfare of your child, and you finally know what it means when they say that your whole heart is outside of you, right in front of you.
You come to appreciate your mother more than you ever have because now you know that all of the preaching, the bugging, the nagging and the worrying comes from a good place. You suddenly do not mind it too much when people tell you that you are turning into her.
The phrase
“mothers know best” all of a sudden rings and resonates with you, and though during several other instances in life in the back of your mind you may have thought that “mom is always right” and refused to admit it outwardly, a sudden revelation flashes before your very eyes. She only had your best intention in mind, and suddenly, you have found a love you have never known before. The kind that changes you forever, and that you want to bring out the best in you.
So this mother’s day for me, I suppose, is a first. Simply because I am now one of the mothers being celebrated, rather than just someone who is celebrating someone. All of a sudden, there are so many more layers to what I used to consider a hallmark holiday.
Being a mother is not a 24/7 job. It is more than a multi-faceted description of sorts. Rather, it is a lifetime commitment to dedication, sacrifice and selflessness. Motherhood gives you a renewed purpose – a new reason for being. It is exhilarating in as much as it can be stressful, but in the end, the feeling has been most rewarding when you see your child growing happily, and sleeping peacefully at night.
To all the mothers out there – not only the ones who physically gave birth to us, but to all those who raised us, nurtured us and cared for our well-being and welfare – a day is not enough to celebrate who you are to us, and in our lives. May you never let anyone or anything make you feel otherwise because in the eyes of your children, and your children’s children, you will always be the greatest – the ones who have given us life. Happy Mother’s Day!