Moms Rock
This post is mostly random thoughts and I have no plans to organize it as it is part of my goal to write every day so read at your own risk.
I have known many amazing women in my life that were never mothers and they have been powerful influences in my life. Some of my additional "mothers" or mentors were found outside the home.
I do find the older I get the more "feminist" I become, but that is only a little bit of what this post is about.
Why has our society as a whole moved away from seeing motherhood as a full worthy goal for a young woman to have? Why do we have to go out and discover ourselves? What if we already know who we are? When did we become hostile to procreation and bringing up the next generation for the sheer joy of having a family? When did propagating the species become a negative thing?
Imagine a bunch of teenagers, sitting together in a living room, happily getting along. In walks the mom with a plate of cookies that she just baked, do the teenagers A. slap the cookies to the ground and tell her "Get a job! Do something with your life? or do the teenagers B. cheerfully take a cookie or two and thank her for being thoughtful and kind.
B. Right? Hopefully!
In the true spirit of womanhood and feminism shouldn't we celebrate and support each other in all our endeavors? I know there are some people we just love to hate. We get giddy with schaudenfreude when they mess up because generally their perfect pinterest hair, and perfect pinterest house, and perfect pinterest family is so out of reach to us that its annoying. But we never know what is really going on. The Mom might be on antidepressants and seriously OCD in a real way that she struggles with every day.
This is one of the biggest problems with social media. It presents a world filled with tailored propaganda in which main people reign as the star even with their humble-brag posts. Don't get me wrong I love social media, but I try to keep it all in perspective and use it for good. I think it's a wonderful way to get a pulse on people and connect with them so you can see past the pictures and get to know what is going on in their lives so you know when to lend a hand or express a kind word to brighten their day.
My biggest struggle as a mother is not necessarily connecting with my kids, but I fear hearing their struggles. I fear hearing about any horribleness they have had to endure. It hurts so much and its difficult to come up with the right words to help them through their emotions. You hear people that go on and on about how their parents were so wise and always had the right thing to say and for me there is so much pressure that I want to run away. It's so hard, but I put on a brave face and stay where I am and listen and hope that it's enough.
For those of you that know what to say bless you. There are moments, even with five kids, that I think, Aww. I'm a real mom now. Maybe it's impostor syndrome or something, I mean, I was 16 for like 8 years.
I'm tired, that's all I got ya'll. Give your mom a phone call and if you can't, honor her in some way that would make her happy. Hugs. Goodnight.
