Sharing Mother’s Day

This year, my granddaughter Camille’s twelfth birthday fell on Mother’s Day. My son Shawn hosted a brunch to celebrate both the birthday and all things mother-related. All this mother/grandmother needed to do was show up with some breakfast sausage. And Camille’s birthday present, of course.

In my head, Camille’s birthday got first billing. I’ve been a mother for over 40 years and, even though being honored never gets old, a kid only turns 12 once. It’s her last year of real childhood before teenage years throw her into a hormonal whirlwind. What I really wanted for Mother’s Day was for her to be deliriously happy.

Being a mother means never losing the desire to care for these other people who have popped up in my life – my son, daughter, two granddaughters, daughter-in-law, son-in-law. That desire hangs around regardless of a kid’s development into an adult, into an independent person who can take care of themselves. I hope my kids know this about me. I knew it about my parents, especially when they showed up at my house with things they thought I could use, like when my dad showed up with a bunch of paper towels because they were on sale and who can’t use paper towels? That still makes me laugh.

I loved my Mother’s Day. Sharing it – not just with Camille’s birthday celebration but also with my daughter-in-law – was perfect.

Lately, I’ve been keenly aware of another type of mother – mothers who have feathers. We have a wren family nesting nearby, just as we did last year and the year before that. Those wrens never stop singing before their babies hatch. Here is one of them, singing at the very top of its little bird lungs:

Motherhood is not only something to celebrate with brunch and birdsong. It’s also something to write poetry about. Two of my poems, “What I Love About Mondays in the Spring” and “Mothers Understand Each Other”, appeared at ONE ART: a journal of poetry on Mother’s Day. Have a look if you get a chance. Thank you so much to editor Mark Danowsky for choosing my work!

• Read What I Love About Mondays in the Spring HERE
• Read Mothers Understand Each Other HERE

photos by kcmickelson 2023