Last year at this time I was a recovering pregnant woman. I had my baby in my arms, but did not yet identify as “Mother.” This year Mother’s Day
feels different to me, like it actually fits. As I celebrate and embrace this role I am reminded of questions that nagged at me while working as a therapist.
Working with kids, I wondered if what I was doing for one hour a week was actually helping – what would work better? Then leading domestic violence intervention programs I thought – where does this start? This work is necessary but what would work better? How do we really end violence? I always come back to the same conclusion.
“If we want to change the world we have to start with the mothers.”
Today, more than ever, this feels like the truth. The home is where it’s at – where the primary therapeutic relationships happen. How powerful is that? What a gift, and what hard work! It’s like Spiderman’s uncle said, “With great power comes great responsibility.”
So, on this day set aside for mothers, I had to depart from business as usual and say thank you to those who take on the job. To the ones that use this poweIMG_0081r for good, show up and fail and try again, and again. Blow bubbles, praise normative behavior, and do uncomfortable things in service of raising good humans.
Fathers, aunts, brothers, grandmas, fairy godmothers – to every one who feels the weight, responsibility, and the fun that is rearing a human up and out into the world, I hope you are celebrating today in a way that feels right for you.
Here’s to you and thank you!
Caryn