Mother's Day

The cursed day in IF land is here.

While I appreciate the "happy first mother's day" wishes people IRL have thrown my way, I have mixed feelings about it.  Honestly, there isn't anything special about me now.  I haven't developed any new characteristics that weren't here before.  The only difference is that I was fortunate enough to finally get my baby.

The things that I see myself doing as a mother are all things that I now realize I had and did before.  The only difference is that now I focus them all on one little being rather than scattered around to lots of people and animals.  The patience, the love, the compassion, the attention, the worry.  Those were all here before.

If there is anything I've learned for this mother's day it is that all women, especially those that want children, have all of the mothering components already there and being expressed.  And the world is a much better place for them, for us.  The physical reality of a child in your arms doesn't change the value that you bring to the world.  In some ways, it might actually diminish it (as I find I sometimes have much less patience for others now).

Instead of lavishing attention on those women who have a child today we should all turn to the women around us who have shown patience, love, and concern for us.  Even the smallest episodes of mothering that we get from the kind stranger at the grocery store (for example) are the things we should all appreciate today.  Those are the mothering moments that make the world a better place.

So in that vein, I want to say happy mother's day to all of you.  Thank you for the love, generosity,  compassion, and advice you have given to me over the past year.  I have really needed and benefited from the motherly love you have passed my way.  Thank you!