Mother's Day

It's the run-up to Mother's Day. I hear about mothers a lot, and it certainly isn't all positive. I wrote about it before, back on March 3. But now, with Mother's Day approaching I am hearing about it again.

For most of my clients Mother's Day brings up a lot of ambivalence. Many of the people I see have come to terms with the realization that their mothers were limited, but most did the best they could. Still, to make a call to Mom and have to spend an hour hearing about your failings does not make that warm, fuzzy connection. Or to hear that Mom is sick and aches, and hurts worse than anyone and always did. Or to hear that, at seventy, Mom is making breakfast for her third boyfriend of the year and her twenty-third of the decade.

Most of the women I see, who are also mothers, feel they need to make the call, to put forth the effort, even if it is just a gesture. The men I see, if their mothers fall into that kind of category, won't bother.


I hope that you all have fonder memories, and that your visits and calls on Mother's Day bring a smile, and even a tasty treat. Most mothers are really some of the best people we will even know, and one of, if not the biggest influence in our lives.

Me, I remember Mom. She tried hard as a mother. If she erred, it was in over-praising her skinny little prince instead of being too critical. She gone now, I miss her opinions. She never would have survived Bush. She died nine years ago, on Mother's Day.