Motherly
I was standing at the stove, cooking ground beef for a quick dinner the other night. I wasn’t able to cook what I had planned because our evening schedule had changed, so I had to put something else together that there was time to make before everyone went their separate ways. As I was mixing the beef, in the same pattern I always do-push, push, turn, push, push, turn- it hit me that I was really being a mom. I realize I am a mom every day due to the fact that I have two children, but this act of putting a dinner together quickly, getting everyone fed…it just made me feel motherly.
I started to think about other times when I feel most like a mom. Doing laundry has often done it, I think. Something about gathering everyone else’s clothes, going through the process of folding carefully (well, mostly carefully) and giving them back to them just has a motherly feeling. Am I remembering my own mom doing laundry? Or do I just see it as something moms do? I have to say, it’s funny but laundry that I have done post leaving my full-time job has felt more motherly than laundry I did when I was working all the time. Having our house as one of my main responsibilities suddenly made me feel more like a mom. I also get hit with that “mom” feeling when I have one of those important conversations with my son or daughter. Whether it’s trying to support them through a tough friend situation or telling them something they won’t want to hear, the weight of the responsibility and the concern over doing a good job makes me feel like a mom big time-before, during and after the conversation.
There are many other situations I thought about that bring out this feeling, and as I drained the ground beef I wondered why? Why did it strike me today? Why do some moments feel more motherly than others, when just about everything I do is as a mom? I’m sure it’s a mix of memories of childhood, little girl dreams of being a mom one day and stereotypes of what it means to be motherly. I’m thankful for these moments because they give me an opportunity to be thankful to God that He has gifted my husband and I with two beautiful children, and that I am able to be a mom.
-Slice of Life, Day 1, Melissa Morrison
