When I read the article circulating this week about not understanding what our moms went through until we had kids of our own, it reminded me once again how true this was. The author did a great job putting into words how many of us feel once our babies are born. You can never understand what our parents go through until we are a parent ourselves.
My parents were divorced when I was 11 months old and my brother was 4. Since I was so young, I have no recollection of them ever being together which I’m thinking was probably a good thing. Needless to say, my mom had her hands full. She was a single, full-time working mom supporting two kids.
Now that I’m an adult and mother, I realize that my mom was a hustler! Not only did she work full time, drive us to school, pick us up from after school care, feed us dinner every night and support our social lives and extracurricular activities, she also maintained a very active social life herself that was full of folk dancing and fun. We always had family and friends around that loved us and took care of us like their own.
My mom might disagree and tells me I’m a better mom than she was, but what I admire most about my mom is that she was a great model of being able to maintain a balance of taking care of us and taking care of herself. Perhaps that’s why I feel so strongly about that as a mom myself and why I make sure I schedule in self-care regularly and preach to everyone who will listen to do so themselves!
There are so many things I want to thank my mom for. She was always my advocate, supportive force, listening ear, shopping buddy and modeled true unconditional love and acceptance. If it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t be the woman, mom and parent educator I am today. So THANK YOU mom for your selfless, hard work and never-ending love and acceptance.
I LOVE YOU!