For all mothers everywhere (written by a friend of mine)

amother

Mon, Jul 24 2006, 7:52 pm

This Is For The Mothers

This is for the mothers who light their candles on Friday night and keep their eyes closed just a few moments longer as they pray to Hashem for their children.

This is for the mothers who cook 6 different suppers every night to cater for everyone’s taste – all of them healthy and nutritious. And this is for the mothers who serve fish fingers and oven chips.

This is for the mothers who do school run rotas and make biscuits and sew Purim costumes. And for the mothers who don’t.

This is for the mothers who have sat up all night with sick toddlers in their arms, wiping up and changing beds and whispering “It’s ok, mummy’s here”.

This is for the mothers of Kosovo and Rwanda who fled in the night and can’t find their children.

This is for the mothers who gave birth to babies they’ll never see. And the mothers who took those babies and gave them homes and loved them as their own.

This is for the mothers who sat down with their children and explained all about making babies. And for the mothers who wanted to – but just couldn’t.

This is for the mothers who read ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar” twice a night for a year. And then read it again “Just one more time”.

This is for the mothers who yell at their kids in the supermarket and swat them in despair and just can’t take another moment…but they do.

This is for the mothers who taught their children to tie their shoelaces before they started school. And for the mothers who opted for Velcro instead.

This is for the mothers who bite their lips, and hold their tongues in the face of teenage fury. Who lock themselves in the bathroom when babies keep crying and won’t stop.

This is for the mothers who show up to work with milk stains on their blouses and dummies in their handbags.

This is for the mothers whose heads turn automatically when a little voice calls “Mum?” in a crowd, even though they know their own offspring are at home.

This is for the mothers whose children have gone astray, who can’t find the words to reach them.

This is for the mothers who weep silent tears of disappointment and despair that they are not ‘perfect’ mothers. And for those who have come to terms with ‘good enough’.

This is for the mothers who have sent their children to school with stomach aches telling them they would be fine once they got there, only to be called by the school nurse an hour later asking them to please pick their child up…right away.

This is for the young mothers stumbling through nappy changes and sleep deprivation. And for mature mothers learning to let go.

This is for the mothers who keep true to the values and teachings of their mothers. For the mothers who are as a link between their daughters and all the daughters who have gone before them – way back to Sarah, Rivka, Rachel and Leah.

And this is for the mothers who stand alone.

For working mothers and stay-at-home mothers. Single mothers and married mothers. Mothers with money, mothers without. Mothers with hope and mothers with fears.

This is for all the mothers, and for their beautiful daughters who will one day be the mothers who light the candles on Friday night and keep their eyes closed just a few moments longer as they pray to Hashem for their children.