Happy Mother’s Day
Its Mother’s Day today, and for the first time in years, I really feel deserving of all the exaggerated publicity and commercialization that has been put into celebrating this occasion. And why is this so?
I look behind me from the computer, and see the clothes drying in the sun, fresh out of the washing machine, neatly hung like my KRA depended on it (coming from being a fulltime working parent, to fulltime motherhood, I’m guessing has its effects). The sun is gorgeously up today, so take advantage of the heat in autumn. Alfie always tells me there is some freaky passion in the way I do the laundry. Clothes hung in matching pegs, pants hung upside down because the waistline always bears most of the water from soaking, and undies and socks as neat as a pin. I don’t know, but I feel it looks better when the clothes are neatly hung up in an almost perfect unison. I look at my clothes line with pride. Hmmp. Crazy. Now let’s not talk about the folding and ironing, because that’s an entirely different story.
I watch Sofia in the playroom, do her drawings with the same intent and passion a master sculpture would do his own Michaelangelo. I laugh at the comical quirks my girls blurt out in the most unusual times. I cry at frustration for the difficulty of getting them to finish off their dinner/lunch, or saying goodbye at preschool which takes almost ages, or of explaining about why we need to be quick when we’re running late for school. I shake my head in tiring frustration over mess made over and over again, a few minutes after you’ve cleaned up, or the number of beds that has to be made up in the morning. Aarrggghhh! But as they say, you can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance (Franklin P. Jones - taken from Love in a Lunchbox). But it isn’t all groans and grunts. I was touched by Bianca’s week-long preparation for this Sunday, including a planned breakfast in bed, gifts and a powerpoint presentation. Having a 9yo daughter has a wonderful conspiring result when it comes to almost-secretly setting up something like a surprise. (I say ALMOST because kids her age almost always can never contain their excitement when they have a secret). Despite my sometimes mood outbursts, the simple spur of the moment - I love you mummy, hugs and kisses, brings out the softest of spots inside all of us. And mother’s day seems the day and time when it is manifested the most. The girls made heart-shaped shortbread cookies from the preschool, and the teacher said I’m be lucky to get 6pcs! (as the kids get 2 each!). Aaww! They bring home all their drawings, painting, and creative knick knacks they made in school, or I hear that Bianca’s got a high score in a maths quiz, and so I smile in triumph. So its not just the laundry, you see? The little human milestones count as well. Actually, the most!
Sometimes, I still do wonder whether I’m doing this job right. But reading Susannah Mac’s Love in a Lunchbox somehow eased some of my worries - because I know, all mothers out there get that BMS (Bad Mother Syndrome) and worry about the little nitty gritty details of our kids’ lives, whether you’re at home or at work. So to all the mother’s out there, Happy Mother’s Day!! I hope you did get that facial, spa massage, manicure-pedicure, or day off you’ve been thinking of doing - you deserve it!
Elia Parsons, one of the authors of "The Mother’s Almanac" said a very precise and interesting definition of this task - "Nothing else will ever make you as happy or as sad, as proud or as tired, as motherhood." Enough said.
