May is for Mothers. It’s a month for mothers to be thanked and celebrated. Something that is deserved well beyond the month. That special Sunday comes near, and you make plans with your family – your husband, your children, and your mother. Your husband asks you what you want for Mother’s Day. Your children make you not so pretty, but yet, insanely beautiful homemade cards sharing how much they love you. Your mother calls wanting to celebrate you and you the same with her. This is what Mother’s Day is, for many. This is not what Mother’s Day is for all, however. This Mother’s Day as you are making plans and desperately hoping for a perfect day, I want to offer you another perspective.
Mother Day’s is not like this for everyone. There are single mothers who desperately want (need) to be recognized that will not be recognized. They don’t have a significant other to do it, and their children are too young or out of touch to take notice. There are women and children without a mother. A mother that meant everything to them, and now is longer here on earth to celebrate. Some mothers have lost a child, the inconceivable. These mothers have had recent miscarriages, lost newborns to SIDS, lost teenagers to suicide, or lost adult children in a horrible accident. The whole idea of celebrating motherhood to them this year is tragic in itself. There are women who are dying to conceive a child but have tried without success for years. Mother’s Day to them is everything they want, but cannot have. Then, there are those mothers that are just lost. They have a child, a partner, and a mother themselves, but still feel unworthy, useless, or unappreciated.
Mother’s Day to these women is just a reminder of what they do not have or what they have lost. The fact is that Mother’s Day can be totally awesome while also really devastating. No, please don’t feel guilty if none of the above apply to you. Enjoy your day, you deserve it. Simply consider the women in your life where the above situation does apply. Reach out to those women on Mother’s Day, and tell them Happy Mother’ Day or that you are thinking of them. You may never know how far that thought and encouragement will go.
