With Mother’s Day just around the corner, I can’t help but be moved by what it means to be a Mum.
Being a Mum is a tough gig. The hours are unreasonable, the workload is unrelenting, and your achievements frequently go unnoticed. I recall one particularly teary early morning feed where I deduced that whoever coined the term ’sleeps like a baby’ obviously didn’t have one!
For me, one of the toughest parts of being a Mum has always been the exhaustion. I realised the toll it was taking on me when an elderly man approached me in the supermarket late one evening and asked if I had a baby.
“Why, yes, I do!” I replied. ‘How ever did you know?”.
“You’re nursing potatoes” he smiled kindly and nodded towards the 5kg bag of potatoes I was ever-so-gently bouncing on my hip in a vain attempt to lull it to sleep.
Despite the hard slog, being a parent is a thoroughly rewarding and enriching experience. You learn to find joy in the smallest of things – it’s not always as magical as the first step or the first belly-laugh, but a shoddy, smudged home-made drawing and the dodgiest of inedible charcoaled breakfasts (that I have to clean up after!) still brings a warm smile to my heart.
As children develop and mature, they’re needs change, but the need for our Mum remains. I still call on my Mum for advice on all manner of things, from parenting tips and relationship advice, to cooking and general life topics.
We never stop needing our Mum – and our mums never stop giving.
Mums the world over deserve our respect and appreciation!
So, this Mother’s Day, give a big warm hug to all the wonderful Mums you know!
