Mothers

Well, it's kind of late to say Happy Mother's Day. But I hope everyone had a good one. I am feeling so lucky to have such a wonderful mother and mother-in-law, myself. I couldn't be any luckier in that department. And I received some wonderful handmade gifts from the kids. Those are always the best kind. Natalie's preschool teachers asked her a series of questions again, and recorded her answers. She now thinks I'm 10 years old (up from 3 last year). When asked what I like to do, she answered "Play with me." That made me feel good. At least she didn't say "Play Scrabble on her iPhone." or "Look incessantly at her computer." Good news.

Liam made his own little book of my life, with drawings that started with me still in the womb (interesting to say the least), and ended with a huge question mark with a page titled "Unknown" (not spelled quite like that...). He said it was to show that he wasn't sure what comes next in my life. Hmmm...I'm not sure either, dear boy. I am hoping he wasn't implying my impending death...he has been asking questions along those lines again. I do love Liam's questions though. The other night we were talking about Mother's Day as we snuggled before bed, and Liam said, "Mom. You know when you didn't have kids. Before you knew Dad, and you weren't married. There were Mother's Days even then, right?" I said yes, I remember those days, and yes, there were still Mother's Day celebrations because I do have my own mother, after all. Then he said, "But what was it like on Mother's Day? Wasn't it sad?" Yes, dear insightful boy, there were some sad years. But all that is past me now. Now my Mother's Days are chaotic and full and very, very happy.

We took some time during Mother's Day dinner to talk about Owen's birth mother, and ask the kids if they understood that he has a birth mother and a forever mother. I think it is good to discuss periodically, because it is obvious their understanding is still limited. We don't go into too many details, but I talked about how thankful I am that Owen's birth mother allowed him to be part of our family. Natalie questioned whether I would always be her mother. Awww..sweet Natalie. I think she has had anxiety about this for a while, and it has probably contributed to some of her very emotional reactions. We did our best to reassure her that we're a forever family. I hope she can believe that without question.

So, I'm thankful. For the mothers we have, the mothers who aren't with us, and motherhood itself. It's a wonderful thing.