Mother’s Day Thoughts
This Sunday. May 13th is Mother’s Day and almost everyone will gather round with Mom and family, or just other family if Mom has passed and it will be a day of celebration and remembrance, as it should be. Some of us, however, have a tougher time with Mother’s Day. Are you one?
My memories of Mom are very different than the storybook version we hear about and see depicted on TV and Hallmark movies. With that said, this is not a poor little ‘ole me or pity party type story. It’s just a truthful one. You may have heard your grandmother, mother or someone say “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” and I do believe that’s true. I don’t ever remember my parents together living in the same house.
They split before I was two years old and my first memories of my mom were of being with her and my grandmother for the weekend and then being picked up by my dad to stay with him a few days. I thought this type of arrangement was normal until I got older and noticed that my friends mom’s and dad’s lived in the same house. My mom never quite got it together as I was growing up. She suffered from depression, mental illness and alcoholism. It was tough and to be honest it made me angry. My mom was never able to get the help she needed. She attempted suicide no less than 10 times that I recall. I was told these were “cries for help”. Our family tried to help, but it wasn’t enough. My mom finally took her life in 1986 to close a long and painful chapter of my life.
I tell this story in hopes that you will appreciate just how special Mother’s Day is and how important having a mom you’re close to and can share with is. I couldn’t save mine and really, didn’t know how. Seeing my wife with our kids and now grand kids has taught me the value of Mother’s and Mother’s Day. I ended up with a great step mom and a wonderful mother in law who certainly did what they could to fill that void for me, and they made a huge difference in my life. Watching my daughter with my youngest grandson has also brought me so much joy. I know my mom loved me and my brother, there were just too many demons we could not compete with.
So, on this Mother’s Day 2018, LOVE your moms, spend time with your moms, forgive your moms if need be, because Lord knows, they’ve forgiven you and always will. Armed with the wisdom of my years, how I’d love to have the chance to try again with mine.
