Tears and Laughter: What your mom wants this Mother’s Day 

This is the week for mothers. Those of us still fortunate enough to have our mothers will search for just the right gift to show her how much we love and appreciate her.

We will try and find perfectly worded cards that tell her how very much she means to us. We will send fresh cut flowers, make calls, and visit.

Those without their mothers anymore will spend the week missing them while wishing they could shop for a gift. They would say the words the card would say, and take the time to personally deliver the flowers.

But this year don’t knock yourself out trying to find the illusive perfect Mother’s Day gift. Your mom wouldn’t want you to worry over it, and besides, it is true what they say. Whatever you give her will make her happy. It doesn’t even have to be a gift. All you have to do to make your mom happy is be you.

Let your mother see you enjoying your life. Follow your passions, find your purpose. Go seek your destiny. That is what she wants. Because she knows life is fleeting and temporary, yet so full of mystery, wonder, and meaning.

My first two daughters were delivered at Druid City Hospital in Tuscaloosa. My son and third daughter were born at Baptist South in Montgomery. With each I remember thinking this physical life could offer no greater gift or happiness. Women share the stories between themselves for a lifetime, these memories of meeting new little lives entering the world.  Motherhood is a heartstring that connects us.

It’s like a baptism in a sense. When a woman emerges from a hospital with a newborn in her arms she is not the same person she was before. She is equipped with a new strength no one can see, and she will hurt you over that baby.

This protective motherly love does not end when they make it out of the crib either. If you doubt this, go to any little league game in the state and watch the mamas. We defend our children, be they right or wrong, as long as we have breath within us.

I guess that’s just how God made mothers. It is the weakness that balances the strength. If they hurt, we hurt. If they experience loss, we experience loss. Our joy is contingent upon theirs.

I first realized I wanted to be a mother when the absence of a child felt like a ghost around me. It was as if a space had appeared in my life that needed to be filled.

Being a mother can be spiritually healing. It restored my faith in many ways. Prior, I might have confessed that I believed, but my heart had questions. The love I felt for my children changed that uncertainty in me.

Other mothers might describe their experiences differently, but most would likely agree that God would not allow such a powerful bond to exist in this life that doesn’t expand and continue on into the next.

And that is the gift.

You were the gift.

To your mother…you still are.

Amanda Walker is a blogger and contributor with AL.com, The Thomasville Times, West Alabama Watchman, and Wilcox Progressive Era. Contact her at walkerworld77@msn.com or at https://www.facebook.com/AmandaWalker.Columnist