Not your typical Mother's Day post

Mother's Day... Sorry to go all bah-humbug on it, but for some reason I just don't get all that excited about this holiday. I much prefer Women's Day (March 8th) that I grew up celebrating. Mother's Day makes me feel the sadness of all the women who are not mothers but would love to be. I know at church people try their best to phrase things in the way that would help everyone feel included. But what about the rest of the day? Or the weeks before when you see the reminders of the upcoming celebration of mothers everywhere? Don't get me wrong, I think motherhood deserves celebrating, just not by the calendar, not publicly and not commercially. And then there's that enticing hope (maybe it's just me?) that the day should be nearly perfect (or at least much better than any other day day), with children magically transforming overnight into well-behaved offsprings. Well, don't know about others, but the day feels just like any other day to me, complete with fighting, whining, refusing to help, etc. So raising my expectations about the day being special and magical only makes things harder. As depressing as it may sound, it makes my life easier when I remember to lower my expectations and brace myself for the usual roller-coaster ride.

To add to my un-excitement about this holiday, during the first couple of weeks in May I came across a few articles published just in time to heat things up for Mother's Day. Both were geared towards raising a debate over who is better and what kind of mothering is right. And I couldn't help but think, why is everything supposed to be a competiotion? Why does it have to be about who is the smartest, the most loving, the most experienced, etc.? Why can't we just do our best without looking down on those who are not like us? After all, aren't we all unique individuals with unique sets of experiences that shape our lives and influence our choices? I know media is partly to blame for pitting women against each other, making moms (and women in general) argue about which parenting/life style will do most good in our society. Throw in a variety of other issues, mostly aimed at women, and it seems like we are all about competing these days. People get so stuck on proving their point, that they don't stop to think that most of us do our best based on our knowledge, intuition, past experiences and present circumstances. And guess what? It's a learning process for ALL of us. I doubt there is a single person out there who never wished they could go back in time and do certain things differently. That doesn't make us incapable or incompetent. Quite the opposite, it shows that we've learned something and are not afraid to admit that learning comes with mistakes. So why not just accept that we do our best, then shake hands, live and let live?

There, I've said my peace. Now off to the fun part. Our Mother's Day evening was spent with friends, enjoying delicious food and a beautiful walk. Also, it may not sound that enjoyable to us, adults, but kids had a blast playing a cold stream, even if it meant wearing wet clothes for the rest of our walk. They couldn't stop talking about what a fun experience it was for them. I guess we should go there more often!