A New Mother’s Day

THERE ARE at least two important mothers in my life.  One of those mothers is a seasoned veteran – she is the mother of three boys, a longtime wife, and is also my own biological mother.  There is another important mother in my life too: she is a rookie, the mother of one beautiful baby girl, and she is also my wonderful wife.  Both these moms hold a special place in my life and each has helped shape my character in positive ways.  But one mom deserves particular attention this year.

Last year Mother’s Day came before my daughter was born while this year Mother’s Day falls after my daughter’s first birthday.  That means my daughter will celebrate her first birthday before my wife celebrates her first Mother’s Day.  That’s a fun trivia-type-of-fact.  But much more important than a single day's celebration is the past entire year during which my wife forged a transformative path straight into the heart of new motherhood.

During our daughter’s first year, my wife tackled motherhood with a vengeance.  Even an incomplete list of my wife’s accomplishments would run longer than the space allowed here.  It suffices to mention, however, that she educated herself on the intricacies of early childhood development, prepared healthier meals, joined playgroups and took parent-baby classes, handled nearly all household chores and kept a tight eventful kid-friendly social calendar that included activities like Blossoming Yogis’ Baby Yoga class and swim lessons.  During all this, my wife also found time to be an inspiring social activist and help reinstate a fulltime midwifery program at Evergreen Hospital.

And even more impressive, this past year my wife did not only become a new mom.  She also became a new kind of wife.  My wife traded her role in our prior two-person husband/wife team for the responsibility of Matriarch in our new family triad.  She also became a new kind of daughter and a new kind of daughter-in-law: with the introduction of our parents’ first grandchild, new lines of authority were drawn among the families.

My wife negotiated the nuances of these altered relationships with a grace and style that shames my embarrassing attempts at fatherhood.  Admittedly, my daughter would be completely doomed from the get-go were it not for my wife’s parental competence.

But above all, the accomplishment for which my wife deserves the most praise this Mother’s Day, is the commitment she kept: she committed to do everything in her power, with the means available, to provide the best life possible for our daughter.

My wife followed through on this promise even when times were tough.  Through the crying and the sleepless nights, through my working late, and even during her own sick-days, my wife came through with a smile and with enough remaining energy to allow me a spot on her evening living room dance card. She gave our daughter a first year of life that was filled every single moment with a mother’s unconditional love and attention.

New babies are the light of the world.  But the powerhouses that keep the lights on year-round are clearly our moms. 

Happy Mother’s Day Laura!