Hey diy Ass-kickers!
It’s Mom’s Day and I’m spending some time with my daughters and their babies who, quite simply, rock my world.
How are you feeling about Mother’s Day?
Do you approach the day with expectations about how your family will show you some lovin’? I don’t mean that you are all judgey about it, that’s not like you.
But when we don’t feel like we are good enough for someone to spoil us, nothing others do for us quite hits the mark.
As women and mothers spending most of our time doing for others, it’s pretty common to expect those others to make us feel good about ourselves, especially on a day set aside just for us. Hallmark alone has made a bundle on setting us up to expect big outward expressions of love that will just make our day.
Thanks a lot Hallmark! All that is a fast way to yet another hit at our self worth because we don’t get to decide how other people express themselves!
I have other ideas for today so expectations can take a hike. Here’s what I’m doing…
I’m giving gratitude for my hubby and spending some quiet time with him. If it weren’t for him, my life would be very different. This is not about thinking that I could never have survived without meeting him, but he is who I chose to have children with. Those little energies that became my kids wouldn’t be with me, their husbands wouldn’t feel like my sons, and their babies wouldn’t have taken my heart. I’m thanking him for the life, and the lives, that we’ve created.
I’m giving gratitude for my kids. They have taught me so much about myself, and about mothering. They make me humble. I am actually proud of my parenting quirks and mistakes because today, we talk about all of that. We understand that no mom is perfect and with both of my daughters being new moms, that setting themselves up for perfection means the loss of so much time to just enjoy and be in the moment with your little ones. And since those little ones are never “perfect”, because that would fly in the face of real childhood, it works to get in touch with your not-so-perfect side.
I’m giving gratitude for my sons-in-law. They have embraced our family, with all it’s weirdness and they just live with it. They reach out when they need something and they are first in line to offer to help when they can. It’s hard letting new people into the family, but these two guys make it easy by just being themselves and by letting us be ourselves too.
I’m giving gratitude for my grand babies. I’m loving them and allowing myself to feel the joy with them. When they are with me, I am just with them. No schedules, no to-do list. Just fun, learning, sharing, understanding, and loving. That’s joy with babies. Simple and easy and I’m going with it.
And I’m raising a glass to women who have carved the way for me to be the mom that I am today.
- To my hubby’s grandmother who raised a large family all on her own.
- To his mother who raised her children while managing depression at the same time as her husband battled alcoholism.
- To my own mother, who came from England to Canada alone by boat when she was 16 years old to start a new life.
And to all the women who have crossed paths with me, including all of you who are reading (or listening) to this right now. Even if think your story isn’t a big deal, it is and just by reaching out you’ve have made an impact on me and therefore the kind of mother I am.
Because courage to be yourself makes for one hell of a mother. 
So how about you dump any expectations that are creeping around in your head today too. Let your experiences be expanded. Feel the joy that is organic to motherhood and relationships.
And tell Hallmark to screw off.
With much Sunday Mother’s Day love,
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