Thank you for the Mother of my Invention

Over the years, I have observed the relationships between my friends and their mothers (and one very lovely stepmother in the case of Karma, who was fortunate enough to have two good mothers). 

 

I have listened to my friends discuss histories, memories, struggles, lessons, and situations with their mothers that fascinated me, concerned me, and sometimes made me glad I was born to mine, while other times compelling me to wish I could experience the kind of bond that they had, which I can only view from the outside of those relationships.

 

Watching these women and their mothers has taught me a lot about the nature of Woman.

How we start out as little girls with so many needs, and evolve into nurturers from nurturers.

 

We seem to inevitably become the mother to our mothers. 

 

I see

Linda, who took care of her mother for so many years in her own home with her family,

Margaret, who now travels to visit her mother after years of her mother coming to visit Margaret,

Teresa, who was so different from her own mother but honored her mother’s ways and included her in her children’s lives,

and other friends who have switched roles with their mothers in various ways.

 

My own limited experience in the traditional mother/child relationship affords me the opportunity to romanticize, conjecture, and watch  with curiosity and amazement, the unfolding of the mystery of my women friends as they have grown into themselves.

 

My mother, through no fault of her own, inspired me to learn this lesson of the “mother role switch” early in life and has gifted me with the life that makes me who I am. 

I am thankful for the mother of my invention and the mother in all of us.

 

 

~ by leakelley on December 30, 2007.