There is a clear pattern to my favourites, strong, loving women sharing their lives.
Today I read this http://motherhoodmatters.blogs.deseretnews.com/2012/04/10/your-children-want-you/
and I reflected on what I was feeling as I read it. I felt lucky, blessed. Motherhood for me was.....and it is hard to say this without sounding saccharine sweet....perfection. I have spoken before about how complete I felt holding my first baby in my arms. And there is no doubt that time has softened the edges of the difficult, challenging days of motherhood with three young children, now that they are so very grown up.
But even accounting for the rose tinted spectacles, there is no denying that I was privileged to spend the time with my children as they grew. To give myself heart and soul to them. I learned more from them than I ever did at school or from any books.
Reading the motherhood matters blog also had me thinking about the many amazing mums that I have met throughout my life. And how often I hear from them that they feel inadequate, what a struggle it is to 'fit it all in', and all the pressure that they feel under from so many sources. My heart has broken time and again when I have seen family's striving to 'have it all', to give their children 'everything they want', meaning holidays, new cars, toys and 'stuff'...when all those children really craved was time with their mama and daddy...
I have heard every justification going, 'we can't afford for me not to work', 'I need time away from the children', 'my work defines who I am'...and that's when I know just how lucky I am.
For me being a mama is who I am, I rarely felt the need to be away from my children, time enough as they began to grow and stretch their wings and step out into the world without me...
I know that this is my path and mine alone. And that one woman's medicine is another's poison, yet I can't help thinking that there isn't lots of room for improvement. For our society to value the role of motherhood and make it easier for mothers and fathers to spend more time with their children. I firmly believe that over time this would lead to more women looking forward to being at home with their babies instead of dreading it and wondering how on earth they can feel fulfilled until they get back to work.
Anyway, I have gone off track and stepped up onto my soap box, when really all I was planning to do was celebrate just how blessed I feel to have been a stay at home mama. To have been any kind of mama really.
So thank you, to the three wonderful children who chose me as their mum and to Chris for being the best dad and husband, I love you all so much.
XXXX
