Dear Parent,
There is nothing more certain than a loving mother.
She rallies when the chips are down and shows up to cheer when the sails are high.
She trudges through dark of night for a gallon of milk, and braves the brutal sun to see the bat swung by her wee-ist tyke.
She holds a steady heart during a good old tantrum, and five minutes later plans a family trip to the ocean per chance a whale spotting might delight.
She bites her tongue when a blistering quip is just right for the battle, and sometimes to her chagrin out it all tumbles.
She can be long suffering in truly ridiculous ways, so she rarely sees anything but the last cold pancake with one bruised berry on her breakfast plate.
She can joke about painful things, though in the quiet of her private space she is raw to the bone.
She laughs and cries like her life depends on it, and frankly sometimes is actually does.
She holds her children when they need love and safety; adoring the former while hating every minute of the latter.
She works and studies and cleans and tidies; and picks up and puts up and keeps right on going toward the things that matter.
She is a perfect blend of Super Girl and Wonder Woman, even though there are times when she feels more like a rag doll who has lost some stuffing.
She is strong and tender; tough and kind.
She means business and is, by her child’s account, uncool in the most inappropriate places.
She endures all things, giving up only occasionally on make-up, hair-cuts, and the latest fashion.
She pulls-off this whole child rearing thing every day because she was made for it, and once in a blue moon she wishes she wasn’t.
She is a contradiction; both symphony and garage band in three-quarter time.
She is amazing and dazzling in her ability to juggle.
She is love in action, rarely resisting the third request for a tickle or a snuggle.
She is terribly flawed and beautifully human for sure.
She is committed and dedicated, as only she can be.
She takes time for herself, when internal combustion nears.
She is on a mission of her own making; on this you can trust.
She falls down and pulls herself back up, because her family needs her.
She has soft eyes to comfort the most fearful heart, and a stink-eyed, hairy-eyeball like nobody’s business.
The Attach Place Center for Strengthening Relationships
She has the laser focus of a Jedi, whenever her child is at stake.
She is love.
She is certainty itself.
She is a mother.
…and mom love matters,
Ce
Ce Eshelman, LMFT is an attachment therapist, adoptive mother, stepmother, guardian mother, dog/cat mother, grandmother, not her husband’s mother, and author of:
Wisdom For Adoptive Parents 