Monday, the Mothers Day aftermath.
This morning we are not woken with flowers from the garden, tea on a tray or hand-scribbled cards.
No lie-ins today, girls. This morning it's business as usual.
I have to admit that I'm actually slightly relieved it's all over for another year, because as the day trickled along, I found myself feeling rather maudlin.
This is the day mothers are meant to be thanked and appreciated, the world over.
Applauded for our hard work, sacrifice, patience, love and cooking by our offspring.
This should be a day for soaking up warm fuzzies and basking in our children's best behaviour, right?
Er, not necessarily. What if your husband had to practically drag the kids into the kitchen to write out the cards (that he bought for them to sign)? What if nobody painted you a picture at kindy or drew you a card at school, after years of glitter, plastic beads and painted love notes? What if you can't help but put the pillow over your head to drown out the noise of their squabbles as their dad growls, "Stop fighting... it's Mother's Day!"
Even if our kids weren't spreading rose petals at our feet, delighting our hearts with their lilting love songs or bedecking us with priceless hand-strung kindy beads, Mothers Day is not the be-all and end-all of our measure as mums. This is what I am telling myself.
Even if Dad had to push them into the kitchen to write out our (shop-bought) Mothers Day cards, that doesn't mean they don't love us to bits. We know they'd be completely lost without us.
Without us, who would bandage their scrapes and kiss away their tears? Who would pick them up when its raining or run back to school with the togs they forgot?
Yeah, our kids love us. They might not always say it on cue, but we know it, don't we?
Some days our kids are selfish, annoying, bratty, whiney, argumentative and disrespectful. But at other times they are kind, generous, brave, caring, helpful, polite and a credit to us. Those are the moments when we know that all our hard work is paying off.
This week, in honour of the often thankless job we do as mothers, I'm going to share with you some of my best motherhood stories. Inject a few warm fuzzies into my flagging spirits and remind myself that NOBODY's kids are perfect, but we love them anyway.
- This is my Life How I got what I asked for
- Ten Cool Things About Motherhood
- Ten Worst Mothering Moments (and what I learnt)
- Not My Mother's Daughter ...or am I?
- To Young Me from Old Me... a letter from 2053
- The Seven Wonders of My World
The Best of You from Last week
Two stories really stood out for me last week. And as it would happen, they are both stories about the challenges of motherhood, in one way or another.
Cass linked up her post about "Magic". It's an older post from a few years back, and I remember reading all that time ago and being inspired and moved. It's a great story and some inspired mothering.
Widge linked up a post where she was telling about a day which went from bad to worse and involved lots and lots of poop and a broken washing machine. Widge tells a story like nobody else. Really, this was hilarious.
Going with the Motherhood theme, this week I'm going to invite you to link up any story you've ever written about motherhood. Or you can just link up your best post from the past week. You choose.
How to join in with my "Best in Blog" linky.
The "Best in Blog" Linky opens at 7am every Monday (NZ time*) and closes midnight Friday.
You don't have to write a special post, or take a photo on a theme or anything that requires extra work...
All you have to do is pick your favourite post from the past week (the one you are most proud of) and share it with us. I will feature my favourites on next week's Best in Blog.
Just one thing you need to do before you link up... Can you please dress your post with this pretty button I've made so your readers can find our linky too?
Thankyou kindly!
(Oh, and please leave us a comment telling us why you picked this one... even if it was because it was your only one, hahaha!)
*For some of you US readers, that will be sometime on Sunday!
*For some of you US readers, that will be sometime on Sunday!
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