You know that, though.
Moms have bad days, and good days, and days that are indescribably complex. Most of my days fall in that last category.
But the through-line of motherhood is love.
It surrounds everything a mom does, even if she doesn’t realize it. It inhabits every waking moment and most of the sleeping ones.
Some of us are born with a terrific mom, some of us “adopt” one (or several) along the way.
Some of us are fortunate enough to BE moms (either physically or emotionally) to a child, a friend, a furry creature, or even a movement.
I’m a mom to two amazing kids, but I also feel that I mother (albeit for a brief time) students in my classes, the young women who work for me, sometimes my husband and even my business partner (and she mothers me, too, when I need it!)
One of the happiest, most positive changes in our American society in the past 25 years is the degree to which men are happy to embrace the more “maternal” sides of their natures, some men make the best “mothers” I know.
We demonstrate our love in myriad ways. Recently I’ve reflected that the amount of time I’ve spent driving kids around is probably one of the better metrics of my mom-ness; this lifestyle would have been a mystery to my grandmother (born 1889).
I wonder if my not-yet-even-imagined granddaughter will someday return to a method of mothering that doesn’t involve hundreds of hours sitting in a car surrounded by children.
In the past few years I’ve been using baking to demonstrate my love to my kids (video: max eats cake); they’re away from home at college, I miss them, and baking is something physical I can do with an end product I can send to them.
This week I’ll have both kids home — Andy semi-permanently after college graduation (video: Andy Graduates!) — and I’m SO looking forward to it.
Speaking of the graduation, it was such a lovely event, and so wonderful to be able to have Gerry’s mom, Elaine, come out for the event along with Gayle (Gerry’s sister) Elaine is a force of nature, in the quietest way. At 91 she moves better and goes farther than many folks my own age.
Our home is small, we will be ‘on top of each other’ for a while until we work out the daily dance that 4 adults, 3 cats & a dog must engage in to avoid bad feelings.
There WILL be some bad feelings, and tense words, but that comes with the territory of parenting and living with other folks.
But my kids will both be home for Mother’s Day, and that is a joyful thing.
This Mother’s Day we will also be all working together at Shepherd’s Harvest, a great Minnesota Fiber Show and one of our favorite events of the year!
Kathleen and I LOVE Shepherd’s Harvest, even if we usually end up freezing our butts off one of the mornings, it’s just part of the ritual!
So if you’re in Minnesota, and you’re looking for a fun-yet-usual activity for Mom, or just looking for a great gift (there are SO MANY OPTIONS at Shepherd’s Harvest!) please come by our booth and say, “HI!” and visit with us!
*The pretty one!
Kathleen’s not allowed to bring her cats, or she’d have her own “kids” with her! However, if you use the secret code, “Kathleen is the pretty one” you can get 20% off of your entire booth purchase at Shepherd’s Harvest!
For those of you unable to visit this great festival, you can shop here at our website, and use the code, “PrettyKathleen” for 20% off of your order until midnight on Sunday!