Liz Rasley

This post is for all the moms/mothers/mamas who…

-want to leave a legacy behind beyond just a jumble of genetics.

-work long double shifts just to make sure all the needs of her family are met.

-are valiantly supportive and strong for their husband and their children even when they feel weak and crumbly on the inside.

-stay up late, way too late packing lunches, editing unacceptable crusts off of their children’s sandwiches; packing lunch bags and backpacks and little bits of herself along the way.

-have 5 loving sons whom they adore, but were hoping for a daughter there somewhere in mix.

-let their children fail so they will really learn a lesson about self-reliance and responsibility.

-have scraggly nails, mostly bad hair days and are in desperate need of a massage, but who have well-groomed and spotlessly clean children.

-toil after their dreams; for higher education, for another job, trying to capture the intangible thing called a dream so that her children will have a good life in part because of her hard work.  And so her children know what hard work looks like.

-have to mend broken hearts and wounded feelings and kiss imaginary boo-boos on little ones’ hearts and heads.

-have learned to restrain out-loud, open-armed love, and instead adapted to their teenager’s love language of a laid-back cool mom that just sort of listens.

-deal with messy, sticky jelly hands, Cheerio breath and peanut butter kisses on a daily basis.

-try to not to rescue their kids every time they fall, though every thing in their hearts wants to shelter their children from pain.

-work outside of the home or inside the home; the moms who still have to clean up messes seemingly all the time regardless of if they grab their morning coffee at the office or at the kitchen counter.

-wish they could solve their daughter’s 20-something broken heart boo-boo like before-with a hug, a kiss and a Barbie band-aid.

-stay up way too late and get up way too early cleaning the house, doing laundry and prepping dinners just to make sure her family is well-fed and cared for.

-hold their tongues and their disappointment when a son comes home from college with a nose ring; for the moms who have teeth marks on their tongue from just smiling and nodding at their mother-in-law’s overly generous advice on child rearing.

-take the long, slow, seemingly snail’s pace time to figure out their children’s needs, wants, personalities, dreams and hopes.

-choose their children’s contentment and needs over their own wants of life’s little luxuries like sleeping in, excessive bubble baths and beautiful jewelry.

-have to tie knots upon knots upon knots just to make all the ends meet.

-whose hair and house and body has seen prettier days; before the little ones became her hairdresser, before all the handmade pottery and refrigerator door art, and before all the meals of Cheerios and Goldfish scarfed down on the go.

-have to make some bittersweet and tough choices on how to best provide for her children.

-eat lovingly homemade Mother’s Day gifts of handmade granola with gummi bears and poorly made weak coffee when in actuality, the best Mother’s Day gift would really be a night at a nice hotel, sleeping in and getting a day to herself.

-would do anything and everything to protect their children and have the scars to prove it.

-love and love and love their children.

This is for the mothers of super heros, princesses, dinosaurs, dragons and “mommy, I’m a cat today!”; for the moms of babies, of small ones, moms of ones who are all sighs and teenage drama, angst and ignoring; the moms of children who are adults, the moms of those who know better, and those who haven’t a clue; the moms of children who have seen and known to much for their short lives already, and for the moms whose little ones seem blissfully unaware about anything in the real world.

If you are a mom, a mother, a mama- this is for you. Thank you for doing all that you do.