I know what it is to hurt on these "Hallmark Holidays" when everyone is honoring their Valentine or their Father and knowing that the family that surrounds you couldn't care less about you. So I feel like I know what many women go through on Mother's Day. What I have discovered is that when I seek to honor those who have enriched my life and do not focus on any accolades that I feel that I may deserve, it really helps and that keeps my focus in order.
I have been fortunate in that I have had both a Mother and a Grandmother who played very big roles in my life, but there have been others as well. Ruth Miller was my Sunday School teacher in the 7th, 8th, & 9th grades. She became a second mother to several of us as we spent time at her house with her family. She really cared for all of us. I cannot accurately put into words the impact that her love for us helped us to survive the well-meaning micromanaging done by our parents. Her influence on me and my Mother actually helped strengthened the relationship between my Mom and me.
Dorothy Lowe Shuff was my Mom's oldest sister and never had kids of her own, so she focused her love on her nieces and nephews, as well as her school kids (She taught Elementary School). She and her first husband, Charles Thomas Lowe were my role models growing up. Those that had the privilege to know both them and me can point out the little things that I do that were picked up from being around them. It was their marriage that became the role model for what I wanted my marriage to be.
I mess these ladies as well as my grandmothers very much and would love to able to tell them as well as my own Mom - Happy Mother's Day.
Yes the Hallmark holidays do create a lot of stress. The various roles like mother or father never get totally lived out I suppose. So no matter who you are, you feel this lack. But some experience it more than others, also some are more honest about it than others.
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