For All Mothers

This is for all the mothers
who froze their buns off on metal bleachers at soccer games
instead of watching from cars,
so that when their kids asked, "Did you see my goal?"
They could say, "Of course, I wouldn't have missed it for the world,"
and mean it.

This is for all the mothers
who have sat up all night with sick children in their arms,
wiping up barf laced with Oscar Meyer wieners and cherry Kool-Aid
saying,
"It's OK honey, Mommy's here."

This is for all the mothers
who have sat in rocking chairs for hours on end
soothing crying babies who can't be comforted.

This is for all the mothers of Kosovo who fled in the night
and can't find their children.

This is for the mothers who gave birth to babies they'll never see
and for the mothers who took those babies and gave them homes.

For all the mothers who run carpools and make cookies
and sew Halloween costumes
and for all the mothers who don't.

What makes a good mother anyway?
Is it patience?
Compassion?
Broad hips?

The ability to nurse a baby,
cook dinner, and sew a button on a shirt, all at the same time?

Or is it heart?

I think so.

  Is it the ache you feel
when you watch your son or daughter disappear down the street,
walking to school alone for the very first time?

The jolt that takes you from sleeping to dread,
from bed to crib at 2 a.m.
to put your hand on the back of a sleeping baby?

The panic, years later, that comes again at 2 A.M.
when you just want to hear their key in the door
and know they are safe again in your home?

Or the need to flee from wherever you are and hug your child
when you hear news of a fire, a car accident, a child dying?

I think so.

The emotions of motherhood are universal
and so our thoughts are for young mothers
stumbling through diaper changes and sleep deprivation...
And mature mothers learning to let go.


So this is for all the mothers
who sat down with their children and explained all about making babies.
And for all the mothers who wanted to but just couldn't.

This is for reading "Goodnight, Moon" twice a night for a year.
And then reading it again, "Just one more time".

This is for all the mothers who mess up.
Who yell at their kids in grocery store and swat them in despair
and stomp their feet like a tired two year old
who wants ice cream before dinner.

This is for all the mothers
who taught their children to tie their shoelaces
before they started to school
and for all the mothers who opted for Velcro instead.

For all the mothers who bite their lips (sometimes until they bleed)
when their 14 year olds dyed their hair green.

This is for all the mothers
who lock themselves in the bathroom
when babies keep crying and won't stop.

This is for all mothers
who show at work with spit-up in their hair
and milkstains on their blouses and diapers in their purse.

This is for mothers
who teach their sons to cook and their daughters to sink a jump shot.

This is for all mothers whose heads turn automatically
when a little voice calls "Mom?" in a crowd,
even though they know their own offspring are at home or are grown.

This is for mothers who put pinwheels and teddy bears
on their children's graves.

This is for all the mothers whose children have gone astray
and who can't find words to reach them.

This is for all the mothers who sent their child to school
with a stomach ache,
assuring that they would be just FINE once they got there,
only to get a call from the school nurse an hour later
asking them to please pick them up right away.

This is for young mothers
stumbling through diaper changes and sleep deprivation.
And mature mothers learning to let go.

For working moms and stay-at-home moms.
Single mothers and married mothers.

Mothers with money and mothers without.

This is for all the mothers who taught their children to be peaceful,
and now pray they come home safely from a war.

Tell them every day that we love them.
And pray.

This is for you, so hang in there.
The world would be a terrible place
without the love of mothers everywhere.
You make it a more civil, caring and safe place
for the precious children in our world.


"Home is what catches you when you fall - and we all fall."

Author Unknown

Please pass this along to all the Wonderful Moms you know.
I just did!