My husband and my daughters have been the sole focus of my life for nearly 17 years, and my old existence consisted entirely of my mother and my childhood. And there are no overlapping memories of these key figures.
That makes for a strange Mother’s Day.
If you have a strange Mother’s Day, for any one of a myriad of reasons, please know that I see you.
I hold space for your peculiar pain/happiness combo, and inability to describe it.
I see that that you are thankful, and how you count your blessings. And I acknowledge that you can hold joy in one hand and grief in the other.
I know being appreciative for what you have cannot protect you from the tug of grief’s nagging undertow.
And I hope you don’t feel guilty about it.
Your life can be a celebration and a somber reflection on the same day.
You can feel an overflow of love for your children, and still grieve a mother or the complete lack of a mother figure, or God forbid, the missing presence of a child.
If your people feel like it should be different, find a friend who understands having it all in this life means balancing grief, too.
God made it so.
I see you, what’s more, I am walking right alongside you, hoping we all celebrate the present and the past, the ebb, and the flow, and know ALL of it proves nothing more than that you are utterly alive this Mother’s Day.