It has been a long Mother’s Day (spending the morning having “Mommy and me” time with my mom, the afternoon with my family, and a quick trip out of town in the evening), but I would be remiss if I didn’t post on Mother’s Day.
So Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms, which includes moms, grand moms, great grandmoms, godmoms, and village moms (no children of your own but key members of the village it takes to raise our kids) out there. Hope you had some time during the day when a loved one said or did something to say “Thanks” for all that you do. And you do a lot.
Can’t resist including a few poems and quotes on motherhood to celebrate the day.
First, a favorite, “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes. My mom used to quote the first line to me regularly in response to my complaining that some task or assignment was too hard. Sometimes she’d say it sweetly, sometimes wryly, sometimes in a joking manner, but it never failed to remind me that hard didn’t mean impossible.
Mother to Son
Well, son, I’ll tell you:
Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
It’s had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor —
Bare.
But all the time
I’se been a-climbin’ on,
And reachin’ landin’s,
And turnin’ corners,
And sometimes goin’ in the dark
Where there ain’t been no light.
So boy, don’t you turn back.
Don’t you set down on the steps
‘Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.
Don’t you fall now —
For I’se still goin’, honey,
I’se still climbin’,
And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
Here’s a well-known poem which extolls the power of motherhood:
They say that man is mighty,
He governs land and sea,
He wields a mighty spectre,
O’er lesser powers that be,
But a mightier power and stronger,
Man from his throne has hurled,
For the hand that rocks the cradle,
Is the hand that rocks the world.
William Ross Williams
A couple of thoughtful quotes on parenting:
“A good mother loves fiercely but ultimately brings up her children to thrive without her. They must be the most important thing in her life, but if she is the most important thing in theirs, she has failed.”
― Erin Kelly, The Burning Air
There is no way to be a perfect mother, and a million ways to be a good one. -Jill Churchill
And finally, “The Parent”, by Ogden Nash, which can bring a smile to our faces when we are too through with our children:
The Parent
Children aren’t happy with nothing to ignore,
And that’s what parents were created for.
Hope all you Moms had a great day!
