Home Page

Opinion

Motherhood is no tea party

At 7, sitting under the birch sapling in the front yard, toy teacup in my hand, sweet-smelling Banister doll in my arms and doll buggy waiting for me to take my ìbabyî for a walk, I could never have anticipated what it really means to be a mother.
The maternal instinct wasnít all that strong, in fact, when I tired of playing house, I just put my dolls in a drawer and that was that. The urge to be a parent was stirred a little while babysitting as a young teen, still, I was glad those kids werenít mine and that I could walk out the door and leave them behind.
When youíre a mother for real, you donít leave them behind, you donít wish them on other people, (oh, on occasion) and you canít put them in a drawer.
That scary realization came abruptly as my husband washed my feet moments before leaving our home and our romantic twosome life, to go to the hospital where I gave birth to our firstborn. With our eyes locked together we realized it would never, ever, ever again be just the two of us. I was going to be a mother.
The birth process, you donít even want to hear about. Then came days, weeks, months, years of lack of sleep. Where is the button that shuts off a crying baby? There is none.
As a new mother youíre ecstatic that you have just been able to get four ounces of formula into your child, you pick her up to hold her lovingly on your shoulder and - you guessed it - that formula, curdled in record time, is now spewing down your back.
You wait for the day the little one learns to walk, you hold her hand, encourage each tiny step, and then when she gets the hang of it you spend months chasing after her grabbing items out of her way and saying ìno-no.î
You wait for the day you proudly stand at the bus stop and wave good-by to her on the first day of school and then turn around and bawl all the way back to the house.
Life as a mother is full of waiting for the next new and wonderful adventure and wiping away tears as each day passes.
There could be no better tears than that of the joy of being a mother, instruction book or not. Iím proud to have five of the loveliest daughters, and three of the most wonderful grandsons. And thereís two more grandbabies on the way.
No tears today, but I do think Iíll have a cup of tea in their honor.

Top of Page

©ECM Post Review

6448 Main Street
North Branch, MN 55056
Telephone: 651-674-7025
Fax: 651-674-7026
E-mail: editor.postreview@ecm-inc.com