"And there they were. All these mothers. I have more mothers than any eight girls off the street. They are the moons shining over me."
You see, she didn't die, it wasn't on the 6 o'clock news or in the back of the paper...She didn't leave me on a stoop, there was no basket or doorbell involved. At 22, she gave birth to a tiny baby with lungs to challenge the town crier and big brown eyes ready to take on the world she had just been brought into.
That baby was me.
Despite her earnest attempts at motherhood, her past held more power than those genuine attempts could ever defeat. So needless to say and to the fault of none, the relationship between my mother and I has lacked in most areas...but I have never been without.
Throughout my life, I have always had strong, boisterous, and absolutely incredible women, some with their own children and some without, to fill whatever void, and always just at the right time for just the right amount of time too. Looking back, I can blatantly and all too obviously see where each woman had been put in my path to teach me, lead me, and above all else, love me.
These women all have come from different walks of life, friend circles, and are overall each tremendously unique - that's what makes me the luckiest girl on the planet - where my life was lacking in one area, it has been unequally overwhelmed with everything I've ever needed...more so recently than ever before..more permanently too.
To those of you reading this, the ones that have always been there, the ones that have come and gone, and the newer ones: Please know just how thankful I am.
I can wholeheartedly and proudly admit that there is absolutely not a hope or chance in the world that I would be half the woman I am today without the role you have played. Each of you has taught me such specific and explicit things that I could never learn from anyone else - I'd list all the things and who you all are, but we'd be here all week; that's almost 20 years of mothers people!
Cheers.
P.S. Happy Mother's Day.
