Humble

Someone forgot to brief the stupid cat that it's National Sleeping In Day Mother's Day.

Since I'm up, I thought I'd go ahead & do my Stream of Consciousness Sunday post.

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I want to write a Mother's Day post. I do. I sat down 67 times yesterday to write a Mother's Day post to all my lovely friends who do that mothering thing, and each time I sat, I wondered - what do I say to them that we haven't all heard thousands of times before?  That we don't know already?

Yes, mothering is the toughest job there is.  Yes, it changes everything. (Thank you Johnson & Johnson for that deep little insight into our existence).  Yes it does 'go so fast.'

But what I am only starting to grasp about mothering - although the lessons started the day that little changeling was born - is how profoundly humbling the task is.

Humbling.

Find me any mother out there who thinks she has done it perfectly.  Find me the very most confident, naturally-gifted mama, and in promise you that in the late night hours, the hours when we are most alone with our bare thoughts she will admit that she's afraid she messed up big.  Could have done it better.

I can't think of a single life experience that makes you question, on every level, almost daily, if you are doing the right thing.  Wondering if, in ten years, fifteen years, twenty years, you will be able to look at your child and say - I did it right.

But here's what I want to tell you, all of you gorgeous mother's out there on Mother's Day:  I guarantee you did it with love.  Whether you are finished, whether you are just starting out, whether you're right in the thick of potty training or pubescent angst, whether you're kissing your child on graduation weekend, whether you're wondering if your grandchildren will call:

You did it - do it - with love.  This I know for sure.

And surely, this is all that can be asked of a human, caring for another human:  I did it with love.

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Happy Mother's Day - to my own beautiful mother who shows superhuman amounts of love, always; to my mom friends who get me through this adventure with, yep, love (and um, snarking and wine); to all the moms out there on the interwebs who may come across this today.

My Mother's Day flowers: peonies make me smile like nothing else.