Greetings One and All ....

                      

What is a Mother?

A mother is a grandmother, a sister, an aunt, a wife, a step-mother, a mother-in-law, a cousin, a best friend, a neighbor, a co-worker – a woman who is regarded as having the function or authority of a parent.

"God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers." -- Jewish proverb

A mother is more than just a body, or a name ... She is a loving essence borne on the wings of butterflies, as gentle as a fawn's step, and as strong as hickory wood. We've begun to recognize that a Mother doesn't have to wear a women's skin – Father's can be Mothers, too, especially if the Mother has transitioned, or otherwise moved on, leaving the Father to act as both chief nurturer and breadwinner.

"The mother's heart is the child's schoolroom." -- Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887)

To a child, it doesn't matter what color skin the care giver has, or what color eyes, if they have a mustache or wear pink lipstick. What matters is the ability to love and cherish, support and encourage – the ability to give and be there at times most needed.  A Mother has an unending supply of smiles and hugs that transcends gender to arrive at the median location of the chest .... the heart center.

"Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother." -- Lin Yutang

I am proud to be a mother, although my body could not conceive.  My children were created and grown in another woman's belly, who after their birth, was unable to provide the care and nurturing they needed to grow.  Oh .. it was not that she did not love them; quite the contrary. She loves them to this day.  No .. she was just unable to take care of them, or herself for that matter. The State of Maryland made it possible for me to 'have' children, these two very special children, through foster parenthood first, then six months later, through adoption.

"Youth fades; love droops, the leaves of friendship fall; A mother's secret hope outlives them all." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894)

That my children's birth mother did not raise them to adulthood does not make her any less of a mother. And, that I could not conceive biologically does not make me any less of a mother either. The sense of motherhood is a state of being that descends upon us like a soft cloak worn over the shoulders molding to our spirit and tapping into the very substance of our Soul.

"The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother." --Author Unknown

A mother's love is selfless, an unending commitment to little human beings to give them guidance and raise them into viable adults who seek and hopefully find their own niche in society. When we see our child take that step out into adulthood, rather than it signaling the end of our job as parent and protector, it just establishes our role as grand mothers-to-be. The capacity to love, support, listen, help, heal and enjoy our children's lives continues to increase as time goes by. Time doesn't make a Mother ---- Love does.

"All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother." -- Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

Watching my daughter raise her son has been an entirely new experience, much different from watching my daughter grow up.  All the things I remember her disliking about me now issue forth from her beautiful cherub lips as she takes a kitten away from her son's strangle-hold or gently coerces him to eat his dinner ... “You are not going anywhere until you eat your dinner.” “Waaahhhhhhh!!”    Ahhh ... truly touching memories now being formed!

"The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness." -- Honore' de Balzac (1799-1850)

And so today, we honor all motherhood, all those loving ladies who have bent down to touch a child's heart, teachers all, from those who bore them to those who cherished their very existence and are proud to call them son or daughter.

"My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her." -- George Washington (1732-1799)

Warmest wishes for a happy Mother's Day One and All ...