Dear Mom,
As Mother’s Day approaches, I want to take this opportunity to tell you thank you for teaching me so many things about motherhood. You had a few years of practice before my twin sister and I came along, but you made motherhood look easy, and I’m confident that raising twins in addition to 7 others, wasn’t easy. Now that I am a mother, I can see that the life you created for your family that looked effortless, came at great sacrifice.
While you were known by so many as “Mrs. Alley” since you had half of the town in your kindergarten class, my siblings and I had the great blessing of calling you “Mom.” Your love and caring nature were no big secret, but I didn’t realize until I became a mother myself, that there were times you might not have wanted to do all the things that you were doing to keep our family afloat. You juggled your time working away from home, church commitments, and minimal time alone, with our busy family schedule.
Now that I have a child who really enjoys one-on-one time, I recognize that my presence as you tried to take a Sunday afternoon nap might not have been all that welcome, but you never made me feel like a nuisance. You allowed me just to lay beside you and read the “Funny Papers” as you read the newspaper.
The example that you set as a busy working mama hid the reality of the challenge that motherhood is. You seemed to effortlessly plan meals, help with homework, and (it seemed) you actually enjoyed going grocery shopping. While you spent many hours away from home every week, we always had freshly made meals, clean clothes, and important family traditions.
Now that I’m a mom and you’re living close to me again, I am so thankful for the investment of your time in and love for my children. They love their “Grammy” and I love seeing you continue to teach and cheer me on and carefully continue to give me your motherly advice.
The days are long, but the years are so short. You helped me keep things in perspective as a teenager, college student, young adult, and now as a not-so-young mother. Your wisdom and grace have been the best instruction manual for parenting that I could ever want. My children are so lucky to have you as a grandma.
You raised your children to be resourceful, creative, work out issues with our siblings on our own, save our money, take responsibility for our actions, and to not give up. You taught us lessons on compassion, helpfulness, kindness, valuing family, and hard work.
Even though I’ve been a grown up for a couple of decades, I still need some motherly advice and care. If I become half of the mother you have been to me, my children will be so fortunate. As I watch my boys get older and more independent, it’s such a great reminder that you’re never too old to need your mama. Happy Mother’s Day.
Love,
Your Daughter
