Mother's Day 2007

I can remember crying my eyes out because I was 8 months pregnant with Katie on Mother's Day 1992. I thought of myself as a mom, but my then-husband informed me I wasn't really a mother yet. No card, no special meal, nothing. I had a bad case of poor-me syndrome. Now fast forward 15 years. I consider myself the mother of 5 children. Katie, Ashley, Levi, Ahren and Peri Brynn. Legally I am not the mother of two of them, but I don't care. You see I have learned what a mother is and is not.

A mother is not someone who simply gives birth to a child. Lots of people give birth and never mother their child, whether the child stays with them or not. A mother is the person who rocks a toddler with a cold all night because they can't sleep lying down. A mother is the one who sits in the pediatricians office and holds her child down as they stab needles into their precious little chubby thighs. A mother cleans up vomit, suctions out tons of boogers from noses, kisses boo boos better and tries to cook creative and nutritious food that is completely ignored by children. A Mother goes shopping for some new work clothes and spends more at Gymboree than on herself (and is happy about it!) A mother answers the phone, hears the word accident and has her heart torn violently from her chest. A mother feels guilt, and pain, and joy every day as she does her best to try and raise healthy happy stable people. A Mother gives and gives and gives and enjoys almost every bit of it (the occasional selfish moment is acceptable!)

I never appreciated what my Mother did for me until I became a mother. I know my children will also never appreciate me until they experience parenthood for themselves. It is the way of the world.

So here's to not screwing up my kids, to bringing home the last two so I can mother them in person, and to another year of un-appreciated hard work. I wouldn't have it any other way!