Column: Something About Nothing, by Julie Seedorf

“If you have a mom, there is nowhere you are likely to go where a prayer has not already been.” ­— Robert Brault

Mother’s Day is May 12. It is good that we have all the advertisements to remind us to remember that special day for all mothers because in the business of life we would probably forget to take the time to make a special day for our moms.

My mom is no longer with me. In all of the 53 years of our life together, we did not miss a Mother’s Day together. There were occasions when I wasn’t feeling well or I was busy that it seemed like a chore to take the time to visit my mom on Mother’s Day. Now that she is gone I miss that time, and I am thankful that we did spend those days together.

I have had many different jobs in my lifetime. I have had a couple of careers but none equals to me the importance of being a mother. I have loved, argued, cried and screamed with my children. We have had good days, we have had bad days and there have been days where I haven’t always liked them and they haven’t always liked me, but I have always, no matter what, loved them. There is nothing they could do that would make me stop loving them.

Worry always is a part of a mother’s life no matter how old your children become. There are occasions where we, as mothers, carry that worry to an extreme and drive our children crazy even as adults. “Mom, I am old enough to make good decisions, you don’t have to worry!” We know that and we can even succeed in not driving ourselves into a worry cycle but somewhere in the background, even if we give it up to a higher power, even when rationality tells us there is nothing we can do, as mothers, we worry.

It is interesting as kids get older and have their own children that they seem to understand this better. I always have told my children to give me a call when they arrive home from traveling so I know they are safe. Their answer usually was “Well, if you don’t hear anything, you know we are safe.” My answer “I just need to hear your voice.” My children that now have children are all of sudden done with the answer. They automatically let me know even without my asking. I was amazed on a text I got from my son when his plane had landed safely while he was on a business trip. He let me know all was well and I hadn’t even asked. I slept better that night.

That is why the quote from Robert Brault touched my heart. It is so true, as a mother we are always praying for our children and our grandchildren. There is nowhere they can go and not be touched by our prayers.

I remember one early morning when my son was in college, there was a snowstorm, and I woke up at 4 a.m. thinking and worrying about him for no reason that I could come up with. It was just a feeling, an inkling that something wasn’t right. Why I woke up to immediately have this feeling I have no idea. Later on in the day I found he had been in the ditch and thankfully in the below zero weather he had been helped early in the morning. A mother’s instinct is always there.

I am glad Ann Jarvis created Mother’s Day in 1912. It reminds all of us to take the time to thank that special mother in our lives. That mother in your life doesn’t necessarily have to be related by blood just by love. So if there is someone special in your life that has taken the time to watch over you, love you and be there for you, take the time to thank them. Let them know how special they are to you with your words or your time.

If you are a mother and have daughters-in-law, take the time to remember them on Mother’s Day, one mother to another.

If you are a mother that has to spend Mother’s Day on her own because of circumstance and distance, treat yourself on Mother’s Day. Give yourself a little love because you did the best with what you had and you have had one of the most important jobs in the world, that of raising our next generation.

The best gift you can give your mother this Mother’s Day is the gift of knowing they are loved.

Happy Mother’s Day.

 

Wells resident Julie Seedorf’s column appears every Monday. Send email to her at thecolumn@bevcomm.net.