Mom's the word
Hello you pie in the sky.
Happy Mother's Day (to those in North America)!
Today's dispatch will be short and sweet, just like my wonderful mother... wokka wokka. We were so lucky to have mom up for a visit to Ottawa shortly before the quarantine, and we got to spend a few days hanging out together and enjoying her unique, companionable and fun-loving company.
I know that not everyone has a great relationship with their mothers, so I feel very lucky to not only love Mom dearly, but also to genuinely like her as a person too. She is one of my best friends, and is a generous, loyal, smart and patient one at that. So today I celebrate my mom Bessie and her particular brand of wonderful, which includes in no particular order (and as a non-comprehensive list):
A love of Blue Jays baseball, hotdogs, reading mystery novels, sewing ALL THE THINGS, egg salad sandwiches, watching "murder and mayhem" shows after Dad has gone to bed, taking on new projects, carrot cake, British World War II anything, sitting in the sun and good coffee
A dislike of driving behind school buses, drinking milk, and playing cards WITHOUT reckless abandon
A heart full of grit, patience, quiet but deep creativity, optimism and joy
She is one of the best people I know on this earth. So hurray for momma in all of her weird and wonderful glory!!!
While I am not a mother myself, I have a deep respect for the joys and challenges mothers face, and the complexity that the identity of "mother" can present for people. So I am also thinking today of all of the new (and new-ish, and not-so-newish) moms I know who are raising their kids in these uncertain times. I am thinking of the people who want to be mothers. I am thinking of the people who have challenging relationships with their mothers and for whom this holiday is a mixed bag of emotions. I am thinking of the people who have lost their mothers and are remembering them today.
Thank you as always for being you, in whatever ways you are able to show up today-- as a mom, as a child, as a person. All is welcome. You are enough. And you are loved.
But wait! Perhaps all of this talk of motherhood is feeling a bit too intense on a sunny Sunday morning? Then please feel free to check out the Isolation Journals, and take on one creative act a day, alone together.
Still too much realness? Then please feel free to check out either this post about a facebook group dedicated to crappy wildlife photos, or in homage to my mystery-loving mother, the mysterious case of the lost reading glasses.
From one mother-loving person to another, I am glad that we can celebrate the women in our lives together. I hope you enjoyed this dispatch, and have a warmth-filled week!
Until next Sunday,
The Earnest Platypus