To All Me Moms :)

Years ago my sister sent me a card that said "Good mothers let their kids lick the beaters, Great mothers turn the mixer off first." :) Yup, that sums up my Mothering skills to a T.

 If there was ever something in this life that I felt completely unqualified for, it was motherhood. Somedays I honestly still feel that way....

Mental illness made my own Mother's journey through motherhood, challanging. Showing love and compassion was often hampered by a mind lost in turmoil but we always knew she loved us dearly...

Still, especially as a teenager, I longed for a mother that would hold me and tell me everything would be alright, and somehow I had convinced myself  that I just wasn't good enough for that.

As a very young mother I knew I was the one who would choose the kind of mother I could be and did all I could to be that ideal mother....The cookie baking, never raise your voice, my kids know all the stories from the scriptures inside and out by the time they are three, kind...but somehow I still yelled at my kids and burnt the cookies....I felt so inadequate and guilty...

Mother's Day was beyond hard, I dreaded the day. For years I wished I could skip the mind-numbing guilt trip....

Then slowly my mind and heart changed.

I began to see the mothering influence of woman all around me....Dear friends you filled in the pieces missing in my heart. Women who taught me to laugh at the spilt paint, to put a roast in the oven, to see the good in all people and that my kids didn't need a perfect mother they needed me.

 I'm not alone either, I have many"mothers" in my life who cry with me, laugh with me, celebrate life joys and lift life's sorrows and remind me often that I am always loved

So on this Mother's Day I honour you...my friends and "mothers". Thank you for all you do. I love you.