Mother’s Day Much has been said, and should be, about motherhood, one of the primary, most epic of human relationships. Motherhood is the stuff of great literature, of famous works of art, of life itself. And soon we celebrate the role of mothers with little ol’ Mother’s Day. Funny that many of the greeting card depictions concerning motherhood bear little resemblance to the role itself. When I think of mothers I do not think flower bouquets, velvet ribbons and sweet rhymes found on greeting cards. I think chapped hands, an iron will and management of vast amounts of children’s bodily fluids over the course of many years, which admittedly is difficult material to combine into something Hallmark can make use of. Even ‘speeches’ delivered for mothers often strike me as if written for an entirely different group of people. They all seem to describe someone much gentler and sweeter than myself and many mothers I know. Motherhood is not a sweet romantic role, but an earthy, practical, sticky one. We get our hands dirty, we carry a lot of things, we feel the life lived by another and we make a lot of sandwiches. A woman who becomes a mother is never completely autonomous again, never really alone in her thoughts or actions. 24
Story by Sue Dvorak Mother’s Day is celebrated in sweet little ways at home that can never match the occasion. But weirdly gold spray-painted and glued macaroni can go a surprisingly long way, as can a “surprise breakfast” made of ingredients never before combined on one plate. Practical gifts, such a babysitting or a prepared meal, are most appreciated especially by mothers of young children. For any adult looking to provide for a special mother they know, sleep is the gift of choice. Young mothers are so desperate for sleep they would happily curl up in an aisle of Costco if that meant for some uninterrupted sleep while you shopped with their kids. Funny enough, the person most likely to provide these kinds of practical, “hands-on” services is usually none other than the woman’s mother herself.
The trick to understanding Mother’s Day, or being a mother in general, is the awareness that moments arranged, even contrived, to be lovely and sentimental often are not. www.DunbarLife.com | April 15 - June 15, 2015
