Monday 23 March 2009

My Cup runneth over

I have always believed that people should only be with me if they really want to, not because they feel they have to.  So I felt exceptionally blessed this Mother's day when my daughter visited twice in one weekend.  

This week saw the newspapers filled with the sad news of two lives cut short before their time, leaving in their shadows several fragile youths having to come to terms with the death and loss of a parent.  Every day I count my blessings that I lived long enough to know that my daughter is her own woman and she will survive and blossom whatever life throws in her path.  A mother can never say her job is done, by the very nature of the role it is in fact one of the few jobs for life, but we can aspire to reaching the basic platform that will provide an individual with as many skills for the next stage of the great expedition as possible.  For me, motherhood is all about having the courage to be your child's conscience when their fails and employing the wisdom to bare silence when a tirade is deserved but above all it is about providing the safety net when they fall and need encouragement to dust themselves off and try again before celebrating from the shadows when they succeed, for they will if they keep trying.  Motherhood is that constant spinning circle which frequently tests not only who they are, but who we have become.  Without wanting to sound too sentimental, I feel blessed my daughter was born to me, through all the hardships and difficulties, the joy and the tears... for she is her own woman and I feel privileged to still feature in her life.....

2 comments:

Kristen In London said...

Foxi, how perfectly you word this. I feel so privileged to observe my daughter's life, and yet know it is my place to correct and scold at times, not always be the cheerleader. To have an adult child visit me on mother's day would be the ultimate thank-you, and I think you can sleep at night knowing you have given her what my husband's parents called "roots and wings." A place to stay tight, and a place to take off from. Bless you.

Kristen In London said...

the other thing I mean to say was: how unutterably horrible for any mother to leave a child's life, and I have felt this so firmly in the last week. Long may we be there for ours.