Motherhood

 My mom is one amazing woman.  When unable to have a biological child of her own she opened up her heart and home to adopt me and also added to our family a brother (Rudy) and sister (Kim) when they were 8 and 9.  She has always shown by example how to treat others and whether rich or poor, highly educated or not, executives or blue collar ... it didn't matter as they were all equal in her eyes. 

It is not uncommom to find covering her kitchen table, dining room table and by the fireplace the many cards and photos that she receives each holiday and birthday.  She keeps in touch with old school friends, neighbors from long ago, her siblings, her many nieces and nephews, etc.  She keeps herself busy with her friends at the Senior Center in Snohomish, Washington playing cards or going to the casino and playing the "One Armed Bandit" but never loses more than $20.

So is it any wonder that when I was growing up and then when I was a young woman that I wanted to grow up to be like her.  To be a mother who sent her children off to school with a hot breakfast and was always there when you got home from school.  As the years passed and the opportunity of being a mother slipped through my fingers I found myself questioning "why" and would I have been a good mother.

But as I look back and even though I don't have children I realize that I still am a "mother" as I helped my friends through the years.  I am so thankful to be a part of so many wonderful children (who are now grown) lives as I went to the movies, baked cookies with them, bandaged cuts and kissed bruises, spoiled them with shopping trips, trips to the zoo, helping with homework, picking up from school, etc.  So motherhood is so much more than being called mom...maybe that was never my privledge but I have truly enjoyed the times I "mothered".