A Reflection on Mother's Day

I, like so many mother's, have dedicated enormous amounts of time and energy to my child. Of course I had visions, or maybe they were more like ideas, about my child's future. Even though my child is a teen and not yet an adult, I can tell that things will be different than I thought. As mother's we so often have expectations of our children, and then beat ourselves up over it if they don't do as well as we had hoped. What I am coming to realize as my child gets older, is that he is on his own journey. I am not sure what my parent's dreamed about my future, but I AM certain that I am not currently living that life.

While my life has had many twists and turns, joys and tragedies, I have managed to remain resilient through it all. I know that there are many people that would have had a much harder time than myself navigating these waves of life. I am thankful for that resilience, tenacity, stubbornness, whatever label people may wish to use (I imagine some would prefer to use some choice words instead). Some people have definitely found these qualities in me to be annoying, but one of my other personality traits is that I frankly don't care. I would say that if there is one thing that I truly wish I could teach or give my child, it would be the ability to not care about what other people think of you. My child is incredibly kind and generous through it all, and I know that kindness will make it to adulthood for him. I am counting this as a win as a mother. Whatever may come in the future, I am glad I raised a kind human. Now, I will work on teaching him to care less what people think in these few years I have left of his childhood. If I can give him both of those things, I know he will be well prepared for the journey of life.