To My Mum:
When I was a baby you rocked me until your arms went numb and your back ached, and you were my whole world.
As a preschooler I went everywhere with you. I watched you play tennis. We picked blackberries by the creek and made jam. We went to the library. We ran errands. I cherished being your special helper. After school you always heard about my day. You warmed my uniform by the heater in the mornings before I dressed in winter. You tried to cook tofu when I became a vegetarian. You let me breed lizards in my bedroom even though they made you sick. You took me to netball each week even when you could see I was terrible at it. You took my drawings and fabric and spent hours sewing until it was right. You read every story that I wrote, and never minded when you were the subject of my work in later years. I was so rude to you when I was a teenager and you loved me all the same. You always held me close and let me cry – when I was a baby, a child, a teenager, and a woman.
Nobody holds you like your mother. Nobody can make you better like your mother. And you always seemed to know this.
You did all of this for me, and so much more, and I only realise now that you would have had your own life. You might have had bad days, but you sat there and heard all about my day instead. You might have been unwell, but you were making honey and lemon drinks for me instead. You might have been exhausted, but you woke for me in the night. I never knew if you had time to sew for me. I never knew if typing stories at 2am was keeping you awake. I never thought about all of the feathers and mess when I brought chooks and budgies into the house. I never knew that you were scared of tofu and lentils. I never knew any of this because you were consistently, unfailingly, unconditionally,
unselfishly loving and supportive to me.
You were, and always will be, pure love.
You are Mum, you are wonderful, you are precious to me and I love you. I can’t give back to you what you have given to me. I can only pass it on to my own children and hope to continue the blessing and the miracle that is motherhood.
Happy Mother’s Day.
From
Ros
