A Mothers' Day Post

Warning: Highly sentimental Mothers’ Day post ahead.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

I have very distinct memories of times with my mom when I was a kid.  I remember sitting at her make up table, pretending to apply blush and lipstick.  I remember loving to have my hair brushed by her and trying to be very still while she did it, hopeful that she wouldn’t stop.  I remember putting on a pair of what I believed to be the most beautiful red high heel shoes from her closet and shuffling across her bedroom floor to the drawer where she kept her special jewelry – a collection that included a gold bracelet from my own babyhood and a tiny ring someone had given me when I was born.

Now that I am older, I recognize how very blessed I was to have a childhood full of comfort and nurturing and love.  The youngest of four children and the only girl, I was also the recipient of a lot of one on one time with both of my parents, but especially with my mother.  And that remains true to this day.  My mom and I have enjoyed many many years of shared moments.  She has been a confidant, a friend, a role model.  And I think I have always had a sense that our relationship was special.  I’ve always known I got really amazingly lucky in the mom department.  But when I became a momma myself I understood things about my relationship with my own mother that I didn’t really comprehend before.

I have always known my mother loves me, but I had no idea how much until I had a child of my own.  And now that I know what it feels like to love a child with my entire being, to desire more than anything else that child’s happiness and health and peace, I understood so much more of what my mom feels for me and for my brothers.  There are moments when I find myself looking into Annie’s eyes with such joy and such pride and I realize my mom must have done that with me when I was coming up on two years old.  When Annie was an infant, I remember studying her face, memorizing every tiny detail as she slept, and thinking my mom must have done that with me.  And those realizations have even further enhanced the relationship I have with my mom.

Not a Mothers Day picture, but a cute one from the weekend, nonetheless.

Over the weekend, I was able to celebrate Mothers’ Day with my mom and my little girl (and David too, of course!).  And what a special day it was.  All day I kept thinking how fortunate I am.  How lucky I am to be a mom and to have a mom who has given me such a shining example of what a mother-daughter relationship should be.  How special that relationship can be.  And I can only hope I will be as influential in Annie’s life as my mom has been in mine.