mothers

Happy Mother's Day, Y'all!

Mothers are some of the most incredible people I know.  My mother, John's mother, grandmothers, cousins that are mothers and my friends that are mothers.  Y'all are AMAZING.  As some of you may know I'm a nanny, which means I get a taste, a glimpse into what motherhood looks like.  And man, mothers do not have it easy.  I commend you all for all that you do for your precious children.  My own mother somehow managed to instill in us a sense of values and responsibilities, compassion, love, awareness, kindness, grace, fierceness and spirituality all the while maintaining her own balancing act of a full time working mom, running us around, caring for us, feeding us, counseling us, loving our whole family with all that she had and keeping her sanity.  And y'all, I can tell you as a woman who is not-yet-a-mother but can still appreciate all that my mom did/continues to do for us, THAT IS AMAZING.  That is nothing short of a miracle.

Now, I am by no means an expert nor do I claim to know anything in this area but I wanted to give some words of encouragement to my mommy friends.  And words of thankfulness to the women who have mothered those of us who are grown.

Moms that have children who are not yet grown; they will thank you later for the boundaries.

They will thank you for not letting them have a TV in their bedroom as a child (my own adolescent struggle) or whatever issue you choose to put your foot down on.

They will be forever grateful for all the practices, games, dance classes and recitals you went to and the ones where you couldn't make it but were able to drop them off/pick them up.

They will be happy you fed them, whatever it is you choose to feed them.

They love the hugs and kisses (even if they complain about them in public).

They will appreciate all the manners you taught them because when they get older they'll realize not everyone was blessed with those lessons.

They will be thankful for the responsibilities you gave them, because when they enter the real world one day, they'll know they were prepared, because in reality no one is going to do everything for them.

They will be thankful that you told them they were beautiful or handsome, trust me, they'll remember those moments forever and it instills so much confidence.

They will take a lot of comfort in your continual support.

They really do listen to what you have to say and heed the advice (sometimes).

You are their role model, believe it or not.

And no matter what, you're going to mess up, you're a parent and it's been going on for generations but please know that your kids love you, imperfections and all :)

I want to say thank you to my mom who (if I do say so myself) did a fabulous job raising me and my sister.  She is a daily inspiration to me and I hope that I will be half as good a mother as she is (one day).  

And thank you, Kathy, for raising such a wonderful man.  I will be forever grateful for all that you did (please give me notes later, I know nothing about raising boys) in raising John to be a respectful, ambitious, and genuinely wonderful man.  I know you know, but he means the world to me and you were (and still are) a huge influence on the man he is today.

I know I got a little mushy there guys, but I'm feeling a little sad because we weren't able to be with our moms and celebrate them today.  You are both loved a lot!  So bear with the mushy stuff, please and thank you :)