Mother's Day

Mother's Day is getting close (only two days away), and I feel as if I should be writing something about this wonderful day of recognition. Unfortunately, not all Mother's are created equal. My Mother, whom I loved dearly, and I did not have the warm, fuzzy, best friend relationship that many mothers and daughters share. There were often times that I wished for that kind of relationship, but it was not to be. My Mother was a career woman, so I was pretty much raised by other women (a live in nanny in Germany and Japan and then from the time I was 8 a wonderful, dependable and loving woman named Jodie Bell Shelton who came to our house, without fail, every single day until I was 14). Mother and I really had little in common, but she was my Mother, the woman who carried me in her womb and gave birth to me. She was who she was, and I accepted that and went on. I didn't always like the things she did nor the way she did them, but I always loved her just the same. I gave her the unconditional love she couldn't give me.

Last Saturday (30 April), my husband's family surprised his Mother by ALL of us getting together for a family picnic. She was totally unaware of the event (planned two months in advance). She thought she was going to have a cook-out with one of her grandson's and his family. The photo above shows the entire clan which consisted of 3 children, 11 grandchildren, and 10 great granchildren (with two more on the way). Of course, it included spouses, too, for a grand total of 32 family members. My Mother-in-law was absolutely thrilled to tears because this is the first time that everyone has ever been together at the same time.

As for myself, I'm the mother of three. I know I've been a better mother than some and not as good as others. I guess that can be said for the majority of mothers. Most of us try to do our best -- with the knowledge and experience we have at the time. We make mistakes and do things wrong but if we are lucky, we do a lot of things right. Some of us are capable of giving more, doing more, being more -- sometimes it is enough and sometimes it isn't.