~ a story yet to tell…

“I really saw clearly, and for the first time, why a mother is really important. Not just because she feeds and also loves and cuddles and even mollycoddles a child, but because in an interesting and maybe an eerie and unworldly way, she stands in the gap. She stands between the unknown and the known.
Maya Angelou, American author/poet from Mom & Me & Mom

The start to my day was a long distance wish and love from my son for a Happy Mother’s Day.  And in an person wish and love from my daughter visiting for the weekend.  The blessings of motherhood are many, many many.  Being a mother is filled with dizzying emotions of hope and worry, exhaustion and lightness.  But most of all love….

In my childhood years I was blessed to have my own mother, but also to have so many other mothers and sisters.  Grandmothers, aunts, cousins and second mothers and godmothers.  And later on, women, who in their own motherhood years, became sisters to me.  For strength and hope. For connection. To understand.  They were along the way in those early years – helping, listening, being a part of who I was and who I became.  Gracie, Rosie, Barbara, Nellie, Mary, Jean, Jackie, Vita and so many more and you know who you are!  They all mattered.  Many are gone now. But never far from reach.

One day walking with my own mother we were talking of her mother, Rosie.  We were on the sidewalk of a small town in Rhode Island.  We turned the corner and there was saw the feather above in the photo just stuck in that corner planter.  And because we believe in signs…we believed Rosie was with us in that walk.  Present and with us.  For those of you who believe in signs you KNOW how this feels and what it means.  And for those who have not yet experienced the feeling of really knowing you’ve been reached or touched…you will know!

Much of my children’s book TEAPOTS is told where Sophia receives signs in different ways to know she is not alone and her Memi, her grandmother, is with her always. Women cannot be on the journey alone. Should not be on the journey alone. Some of us are mothers.  Others are mothers to our children.  We bond and support.  We are ONE.  Our children are watched over and cared for collaboratively and lovingly by a strong core of women.  And not just in the baby years, but in the school years and even the college years….

This Mother’s Day post is graciously shared in memory of my Aunt Jackie who passed away last month just way, way too early to leave us.  She was kind and gracious and so giving of her time and energy.  She was a teacher who believed I could be the same.  She helped me with my early school work and just had that way about her that you knew she genuinely cared.  She believed in all of us that we could become what the Divine had as a plan for us.  And I believe that she too will never be far from reach.  From heart.

To all of the women on my journey – I share my love and gratitude as you’ve helped me become the woman I am today, the mother I have the courage and strength to be, the person I am to help and believe in others.  Blessings to you all.