Motherhood Is Easy

 
Mother's Day is coming.... which means obligatory popsicle stick and tissue paper flowers and chocolate-covered peace offerings. To celebrate this, I am declaring every Monday until May 9th: MOTHERHOOD MONDAY, and will share thoughts about the ups and downs of being a mother. I hope you'll weigh in.....



Motherhood is easy.

Unless, of course, you happen to be a mother.

Sure, it all starts off easy enough…buzzing through the pollination process. But once the little pollywog meets his eggstra special mate and forcefully invites himself in for dinner {in YOUR house}, the EASY-ness of independence takes cover like the sun on a cloudy day, emerging only sporadically to provide bright respite from the shade.

Pregnancy itself is such an accurate symbolism of motherhood that not even Shakespeare could come up with better foreshadowing. For example, when reflux is causing grief, and you plead for the mercy of delivery, just swallow down the waterbrash and realize that heartburn will return in 15 years when your teenager is learning to drive. And you will again plead for mercy of delivery (your own this time). Pregnancy back pain? It's just a hint of the back pain you’ll get hauling around a 15 pound kiddo, a 20 pound diaper bag, and 60 pounds of mommy guilt.

Pregnancy also mimics parenthood in many other ways. The symbiotic swelling of both belly and babe portends a dependent growth that will continue through the lifespan.

If one doesn’t grow, neither will the other.

I am understanding this interdependent relationship more and more. As my children grow increasingly autonomous, I realize that I thought I was teaching them. But as it turns out, I have really been the student. My kids have helped me realize that motherhood is about raising, and celebrating the child I have, not the child I thought I would have. It is about understanding that my children are simply the people they are supposed to be. Joan Ryan states, "And if you are lucky, [they] just might be the teacher who turns you into the person you are supposed to be." 

Yes, motherhood is not the freeway to my unrealized dreams, but rather, it is a gym to increase wisdom fitness. So, I'll keep wearing my metaphorical stretchy pants to accommodate growth and keep on plugging away at the give and take of motherhood. I'll keep receiving lessons from my children.

And give them my love. THAT is the easy part!