Mother's Day

When I was growing up, I never thought of my mom as a person. I only ever thought of her as a mom. I suppose there's nothing wrong with that--after all, being a mom was and is her life's work. I'm very glad I'm able to say that. But most of the time, she wasn't so much a person with a personality to me as she was a mom, someone there to help me up when I fell, to take care of the house and keep things in order.

One day, when I was about 17 years old, I was cleaning up in the kitchen after a meal. I don't remember everyone that was there--one or two of my younger brothers, I'm sure. My mom came in and started shooting me with rubber bands. Soon, all of us were involved in this huge rubber band war in the kitchen.

You have to understand, my parents were always so serious as parents. I don't think they started out so serious when they were young and unattached. In fact, I've heard some quite good stories about how un-serious they were in those days. Being parents made them more responsible and much more serious.

This little rubber band war had an impact on me. I realized then, possibly for the first time, that my mom was a person with a personality and even though a mother was who she was, she had other parts to her that she kept hidden often.

My mom really was a great mom, but sometimes I wish I could have known her before she had children and life became hard. Being a mom tends to change people from who they were before. Little glimpses like this one are very eye-opening. Now that I am a mom, I notice that about myself too--I don't always act like who I was before I had kids--I'm much more serious and busy now in ways that I wasn't before. I don't mean to, but that person I was before gets hidden from view when I'm busy wiping noses, changing diapers and doing endless mountains of laundry.

Happy Mother's Day! It's a great day to be a mom.

*photo July 2009--my parents, my five brothers and me