My mother self admittedly has said if she was a younger woman she would of never had children.  She resented motherhood, her children, and the responsibility.  I was born more than a full decade after my sisters.  They were about three years apart with me way behind.  My whole childhood I spent  in the way of my Mom her living her life the way she wanted.  When I went to college she did not visit me in my new city for almost 20 years and not till Ryan was born did she walk into my home.  Mother’s Day was always a time to hold my breath.  She is a super critical person and Mother’s Day we either did too little, too much, didn’t get her the right thing, or something. It was an anxiety ridden time, from the time I was a kid.  Even now the thought of Mother’s Day has me feeling cranky.

My experience of Mother’s Day is different.  My kids get completely excited.  They have been talking about Mother’s Day for weeks.  Ryan woke up first this morning.  He quietly slipped into bed with me letting me spoon him.  He lay as completely still, well as still as a wiggly boy can.  I enjoyed his warmth and the smell he has had from the minute he was born.  All my guys let me sleep in, and along with my husband brought me breakfast in bed.   I took Aaron to get groceries, a chore over looked with Listen to Your Mother happening this week.  Ryan worked with my husband on his weekend homework.  We then prepped a bar b que feast.  Finally, we are sitting on the deck filling a million water balloons for a water balloon fight that is kicking off now.   That, to me is the perfect way to spend Mother’s Day.

I want to honor all nurturers.  This is for the women who chose not to parent but nurture the world in their own way, for those who couldn’t have kids and so desperately wanted to and decided to live child free, for the single Mom’s who this is another Sunday full of chores before a long week of work, to the people who have lost their Mom’s or have a complicated relationship, for the single Dad’s who have to play both Mom and Dad, and for anyone else who has a complicated relationship with Mothers.  This is your day too.  May it be as glorious a day as you want it to be full of fun and love.