I know Mother's Day is a day for you, but in a way it is a day for me as well. I look forward to the post where I get to tell you how important you arer to our family and how lucky we are to have you as the "mother" that makes us a whole family. All of those points are obvious, but how I perceive it is a bit different.
I am amazed by the role you hold in our family. Frankly, I really can't imagine what other families do without someone like you to hold them together. I know I have never witnessed anything quite like it in my life. I have never seen someone take the responsibility you take and the care and love with which you accept that responsibility. In my eyes, you are what a mother should be all about. It remains the polar opposite of what I think you or I have ever experienced.
Consider the famous "TV moms" of the past. They rarely had roles in their families as prominent as yours. I spent some time trying to fogure out which one you were most like, it didn't give good results.
Marion Cunningham? Come on. Not only did Howard run the family, he handled all of the difficult situations. You have little in common with her. She didn't even comfort Joanie when Chachi dumped her.
June Cleaver? Hardly. Not once in our marriage have you put on pearls and cleaned the house. Ward made all the tough decisions. June simply put on band-aids, served the soup and passed the phone to Ward. In our house, your role goes well beyond stuff.
Samantha Stephens and Laura Petrie do have one thing in common with you. They were both very attractive wives. Samantha did wear the pants in her family, but frankly she didn't give poor Tabitha the attention she deserved. Laura? Heck you hardly ever saw their kid. Not sure what great parenting skills were required for that.
In the 80's they got closer. How about Elyse Keaton. She was smart. You have that in common. She was compassionate. You have that too in common. But she was kind of a flake and frankly she had at least 2 kids who were kind of messed up. Claire Huxtable? Too perfect. Too fake. Not anything like you. Jill Taylor from "Home Improvement"? Maybe we are getting closer. She was strong willed, had a certain sex appeal and clearly kept Tim in line. The boys were good kids, but she raised boys not girls so she can't even compare to you.
The 90's gave us a few other to consider. But still no one who comes close. I know we joke that Rosanne might be a fit, but as funny as she was and as often as she bailed out her kids, I still think she had kind of a selfish approach to parenting. Your tendency is to put the kids/family first and yourself second (despite what you may actually say out loud). Amy Matthews (yeah Corey's Mom) may actually be closer than any of them. Always there to put Corey in his place, but tin the end there to give him the love and support he needed.
There really weren't any good ones in the 2000's. Debra Barone had no backbone. Beyond her there is little to consider.
So that means you have no peers. No one for comparison sake. A one in a million. The one in a million we are so lucky to have. Like our very own lottery ticket.
I found two pretty good quotes about motherhood that I do think apply to you. The first is from Pearl S Buck who said "Some are kissing mothers and some are scolding mothers, but it is love just the same; and most mothers kiss and scold together." The second is a bit more simple. It is a Jewish proverb (which is odd because I think they make crappy mothers), "A mother understands what her family does not say". I like those and think they cover your role pretty well.
Happy Mothers Day my love. You likely need more than one day of celebration every year. I know the role you play gets harder and harder every day, but you always seem up to the challenge. You remain exactly what I think a mother should be. Thank you for showing me what it really means.
You're the world to me. I love you more than anything in the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment