Originally written for Mother’s Day, May 9, 2021
I drift in and out of dreamtime, letting myself float on the early morning bird song and the mists of dreams.
Mothers and grandmothers, a multitude of them all around me. They are the foundation upon which I built my life. Their strong, sometimes fierce love, guides and protects me. Their wisdom informed me as young mother even though I was not conscious of it. Today it still informs me.
Mothers and mothering…we are all mothers in some way whether we carried and birthed a child in and through our bodies or came to motherhood in a different way. Mothering, in all its magical, glorious messiness, is an enormous gift and privilege. We mother our children, our friends’ children, our friends and neighbors, looking out for each other, offering food and comfort, hugs and straight talk, tea and bourbon, sprinkling kisses and love, sometimes a kick in the pants, as we go. Mothering is our way.
I recognize, now, that although my baby did not come with a detailed written instruction manual, and it often seemed as if I was flailing blindly in the dark, at the core of my being I heard and held the wisdom of all the mothers. It was there, gently nudging me as I grew into being a mother for that miracle of a child. And grew into being my own mother. That wisdom guided me even as I wounded my own mother and she, me. As I fell and got back up. As I forgave and crept forward.
The ancient love and wisdom of all the Mothers of all times is ours in the here and now.
Today, May 11, 2025, I thank all of the mothers in my life…my birth mother. The neighbor ladies. The teachers. The friends. My sister. Grandmothers. Aunts. Cousins. Random kind grandmotherly types in the grocery store.
I thank Jaska for the privilege of being their mother. I thank Linzy for adopting me as her mother in 2013. I thank Andy’s kids for being in my life. I thank Penelope for allowing me to mother her.
I am grateful for all the ways mothering and the love of the Ancient Ones is present now, making a difference, teaching all of us how to be mothers, creating a world of love and acceptance.
Happy Mother’s Day