Food For Thought Friday: It's a Mother of a Day...

I know it's a Hallmark holiday. I know that it was created to sell sell sell, and we are programmed to buy, buy, buy.  I know that we should not need a day dictated to tell us to appreciate our mothers, but as a mother, it feels darn good to be honored on Mother's Day. It feels really nice to open up a card that says everything you always wished your family was thinking about you and all you do, but they never put into such poetic words.  It feels really nice to be waited on hand and foot and have an excuse to do or not do whatever you want. For someone who is accustomed to putting the needs of many before her own, it is nice to have a day to be honored for that. It's different from a birthday, because on this day, it's all about your role not just as a human, but as a MOTHER.  The most important job you do.

It's nice to open a handmade gift from your child that they made at school, whatever the modern day clay ashtray is these days (at our house it was a jewelry box made from an Altoid tin painted gold and adorned with colorful gems and shells. It is divine.) It's nice to be celebrated by not just your family, but by an entire culture that values the role of mothering (and a card company that thinks it makes a really great holiday).

But, Mother's Day really provides an amazing opportunity for this: Opening yourself as a mother up to all the love that is coming your way, and getting in on the fun.  Not just feeling loved by others, but loving yourself for the amazing work that you do each and every day even when nobody is showering you with flowery cards and little trinkets. Wrapping your arms around yourself and giving yourself a big ol' bear hug, and thanking yourself for doing what mom's do so well, which is... well, really... everything.

So, how are you going to celebrate yourself as a mom this Sunday? I want to know!

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