As many of you know, my children have all left home, I'm coming into a different stage in my life, trying to define who I am now I'm not a full-time mother (I mean I am still their mother, but the day to day stuff is not my responsibility anymore).
Mother - a powerful word. For most of us when we become mothers, it's as though we're finally complete, this is what life is all about, our days of playing dolls and dress ups are over, this is the real fairytale.
In our family, we had decided early on that I would be a stay at home mum, let's face it - it was my all time dream, my husband would work and be the "breadwinner". We have always been happy in these roles, it's only now when I look back and wonder how different my life would be now had I had a career as well as a family... but no point looking back, I didn't and I loved every minute (well most minutes) of it.
Mother - a powerful word. When people hear the word mother, it can conjure up many different emotions. I always thought a mother should be able to bake, sew, mend, keep a spotless home and look fabulous whilst doing it - I think I watched too much TV as a kid. Often while my children were growing up I've felt inadequate as I can't sew or mend, I don't bake, I don't do crafty things, I definitely don't keep a spotless home, sometimes I have to wonder what I'm good at. I asked my husband this the other night and he said I was "loyal and kind" I think he was talking about the dogs. After 24years I would have preferred "drop dead sexy and amazing" but alas, it's not to be.
Mother - a powerful word. In our extended family, without naming names, we have a 16yo girl who's parents have recently separated. Unfortunately this separation has gotten extremely ugly and has resulted in the girl moving away with her Dad. We've had many phone calls from people shocked to hear of this and the same theme throughout has been "how can you separate a child from her mother?" The image is that this girl has been dragged away from her poor helpless mother. The reality is that the father in the family has been the primary caregiver for all of her life. Sure the mother gave birth, but as for the rest of the nurturing, the father's taken on that role. The mother in this scenario, has been carving her career in the corporate world, being the main bread winner. This has always worked fine for them. Unfortunately the marriage didn't work out so we come to the mother word again. To me the "mother" in the family has been the father, so it came to no surprise to me that Miss 16 would choose to live with him and move thousands of kms away from mother.
What does the word mother conjure up in your mind?
