motherhood potpourri

Mother’s day is over, but motherhood is way too vast a topic to confine to one day. There was some really fine writing about it on the web this past weekend. Here are some posts you won’t want to miss:

- The Erma Bombeck of young wiggling families, Mel of Actual Unretouched Photo begins her pre-Mother’s Day post:

At heart, I’m a pessimist . . . except on Saturday mornings. On Saturday mornings, I somehow trick myself into believing that I will get extra sleep, even on days when my husband leaves the house early, as he did this morning. My daughter wakes up at 6:55 a.m. and I barely open my eyes as I pluck her from her crib and run bath water.

So, did she get to sleep in? Read entire...


- Ann Voskamp (whose writing reminds me of Sue Monk Kidd) blogs at Holy Experience but is also one of the contributors to the group blog Choosing Home. “A Shepherd’s Mother” was on its front page for Mother’s Day. Her story begins:

I became a mother on the eve of Mother’s Day.

And when they placed that vernix-covered , wrinkled babe into my 21-year old arms that muggy Saturday evening in May, no wave of relief, or ecstasy washed over me. Being the first to caress another human being’s cheek, I only felt raw, unadulterated, strangling terror. If I could have ran, I would have. My weak, rubbery legs failed me.

Grab a tissue before you read "A Shepherd's Mother" along with the comments, where Ann’s mom - a big part of the story - takes us full circle in a beautifully serendipitous way.


- Bonnie Bruno at Macromoments is still missing her mother after saying goodbye to her, suddenly and unexpectedly, two years ago. She says:

Hug your mother on Mother's Day and memorize her smile. One day that image will fill in the gaps and warm your heart in ways you can't imagine.

Read “Memorized Smiles”