Love and Respect – A personal appreciation for mothers

Being a mother is both tiring and rewarding. Tiring because all the things you have to do for your children, even if they’re old enough to do it themselves. You feel like you want to do it for them, not out of duty but for the love that you have for them.

A mother pushes herself to make her children comfortable and to make sure they are well fed and loved. The reward you get is when your children turn to you for comfort or advice. But the biggest reward is when your children give you a hug and a kiss and say they love you.

Certainly there are days when you feel like pulling out your hair because you keep repeating what you may want them to do or they take their time doing their chores, but that’s to be expected when you have children. More than a few times, I will take a good look at both my children and grandchildren. Their beautiful faces remind me of my purpose here on earth – to teach, to nurture, to guide them and most of all, being a mother to them.

A mother is so much more than the woman who gave birth to you. She’s the most important person in the world. For me, my heart still soars when I know that I have made my mother proud for something I did or accomplished. I love nothing better than to make her smile and most of all to hear her say she loves me. I look to my mother for her embrace. That comfort place. To melt into her arms whenever I need comfort, a shoulder to cry on or just simply, the child in me wants to forget the world and just lay my head on her chest and cry. It may not be out of sadness but relief – relief that I can still lay my head on her chest.

To those of us who still have our mothers walking on earth, please be considerate of how you treat your mother. You only get one in your lifetime. Treat her with respect. Treat her like she’s supposed to be treated – that she the most important woman in your life. Many don’t have that and yearn to have their mother by their side, even for just one more day. I cannot imagine life without my mother. I don’t know what I would do without her.

The person with the most impact on a child’s life is the mother. A child will look to their mother for the basics of life but there’s a deeper side. It’s the bond between mother and child – a love so strong and a deep connection that no one can ever replace it. All a child needs is that one person to make everything better, and that person is the mother. When a child cries, they look to the mother for comfort. They will cry until that one person will take them into her arms and the child rests their head on the mother’s chest. You can hear the relief when the child takes that deep breath because they know mama will make it better just by being there to hold them.

Mothers are very special. They are the head of many households. The go-to person when you need help or advice. You look to your mother as being the strongest, smartest or bravest in the family, but she has a softer side. A side that she may conceal around the people she is supposed to be strong for. Maybe you don’t know the countless times that she has cried herself to sleep because of an argument or something happened between you and her. Maybe you don’t know that she’s good at hiding her tears. She’ll turn away because she doesn’t want you to see the fallen tears because she’s supposed to be the strong one in the family.

When you ask her if she’s okay, she’ll most likely say she’s fine. She is also scared at times, but she doesn’t want to show it. She’s scared she will fail as a mother. Show respect to your mother because she is proud of you every single day whether she says it or not. She doesn’t ask for much, sometimes all she wants is a simple gesture to let her know that you care about her. It may not be much to you but that cup of tea you brought her or just asking if she needs anything means the world to her.

So I say, this Mother’s Day, show her you care. Hold her a little longer and tighter because one day you will long to hold her one last time.