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Family, Parenting and Religion
Happy Mother’s Day

Happy Mother’s Day

Last updated on: August 16, 2022 at 2:12 pm by Mark Williams

Happy Mother’s Day 2022-08-16T14:12:25-07:00 Mark Williams

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Bath time/Williams

I REMEMBER….

Mom, you use to bathe me in the kitchen sink. And believe it or not, I have a memory of this, whether it was just once or until I was a teenager, I remember and it was a happy memory on this Mother’s Day.

Today we celebrate you, mothers. You are the sweet jacket we put on to keep us warm and the SPF 600 so we don’t burn like bacon in the summer. We went to war for dad-

We came home for you.

YOU….

You always laughed at our jokes, even when they were not at all funny.

You asked us who we had lunch with at school, only because you wanted to hear our voice speak, not because you wanted to really know.

You curled up on our beds and demanded from us to hear about our day, the cute boys and girls. And when we got married, you straightened the train of our dress or our bow tie.

You made the best meat loaf. You taught me to sew. I have never had anyone sew a button on for me since.

YOU ARE HUMAN….

You are human and make mistakes. Over the years, sometimes, you were angry, sometimes, you didn’t smile. We judged you on your life choices as we got older, not realizing we are measuring you by our view as youth, not yours in your age. Thinking we knew better. And then we would tell you where you went wrong and how you could fix it.

We did that-to you. I look back on those and I’m sorry for judging you. You carried a huge heavy blanket of weight I never saw. It was not you, but me.

I am sorry many of you are traveling this parent road alone. “Things just didn’t work out” seems to be an easy saying to release us from a job which can be beyond difficult. Babies are cute for a bit, then in an hour, you have to feed them, change them, get them to sleep-then repeat that for years. Fatigue becomes your middle name and it can numb you, even when there is a father in the viewfinder. You, mother, have carried that burden because you were made to. God knew what life would be so he made you so you could watch your son be hung on a cross and hold the vigil when all around you left. And yet have a heart so merciful you chose that for those who slayed him.

YOU STAYED

Yet, when everyone left, you were still there.

You figure out the transport schedule for games, special schools, Recorder concerts, physical therapy, at the same time you are navigating a video conference, teaching, engineering something, creating music, driving a truck, all while feeding the dog and wiping up vomit or spilled cereal.

In the end, as we hold your hand as you leave this earth and go home, the last words we will hear from you might be you, just being a mother. Mom, you are the closest depiction of love in our lives and you can’t help it. You love us.

You close your eyes as you hold your child’s adult hand and simply say ‘tell me about your day.’

Happy Mother’s Day ladies.

www.patheos.com/blogs/insideourgooeyminds/about

www.markjwilliams.com

Family, Parenting and Religion

Relationships and Religion

About Mark Williams

Mark has authored several fictional pieces, including screenplays, short stories, magazine stories, training manuals, and novels. The Good and Kind Man is Mark’s eighth novel, coming out last fall through Leaping Armadillo Press. He has been married for over thirty-seven years, and widowed in 2018. He has three grown children, and ten grandchildren. He currently resides in Phoenix, Arizona and attends Open Door Fellowship Church. You can find out more about Mark’s writings at www.markjwilliams.com You can read more about the author here.

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