Happy Mother’s Day!

Happy Mother’s Day!

It’s 5:30 a.m. and my 7^th child is banging on his door because he is ready to start his day! The poor lad has not quite figured out how to turn a knob yet and I am not sure if I should be happy or sad about that. LOL. I go to jump up and attend to him but of course, it’s Mother’s day and my husband is trying very hard to beat me to the punch! Back to bed I go hoping that sleep will resume but of course it doesn’t, on the only day of the year that I chose to stay in bed! As I lay there I hear the twins awake and I realize that my husband will not be able to nap on the couch so I get up to ask him if he needs help. Let’s face it I am just a Mom and it’s hard NOT TO DO ANYTHING.

I decide I will call my Mom because I know she’s awake! I have a nice conversation with her and then I hearing the singing from the hall, “Happy Mother’s day to you!” I cut my Mom off who is nice about it because she gets it (lol) and then the door opens to my Prince and 8 children bringing me a full and complete breakfast in bed! You would think he was feeding an army: eggs, toast, bacon, tater tots, and this year’s new addition to the menu: chocolate covered strawberries! YUM, I felt like Anna and Elsa, “What’s that smell? CH-O-CO-L-ATE!!!!!!!!!!”

Then, my personal favorite part, when all of my kids bring me their hand made cards and presents. I get so emotional when I see what they have to say about me. At one point I almost judged myself when I read, “My Mom and I like to…clean and do laundry.” I thought to myself, “OMG, my kid is a workhorse!” But then I realized that it is not true. Peter, my oldest, just started to learn how to do laundry and he actually LOVES it. So when he comes home from school and after playing for a little bit he actually asks me, “Mom, what can I do to help you?” And I say, “Can you go switch my loads?” And he actually gets excited to the point where not only does he switch them but on his own he follows up when the load is done and he brings up all the laundry and puts it in my room. I tell him he doesn’t need to do that but he loves to and I think the reason he loves to do it is because though it is something small it is a lot for me because it helps! And let’s face it Moms even he didn’t help out who knows how long that load would sit in the washer or how many times I would have to re-wash it! Right? Right!  So, yeah, I didn’t judge myself. I said to myself that this is something he loves to do so I will leave it at that. Well God was good because I thought the card was over but it wasn’t and in the better card he mentions how I can play football with him and his Dad, how I play baseball with him and well, the list goes on. Whew. I was relieved to know that I was not perceived by him to be the evil Step Mother from Cinderella!

After I had all the love in the world from the kids my husband instructed them to leave me alone for a little bit so I actually remained in my bed. What do I do? I actually thought to work for my job but then I thought it’s Sunday and Mother’s day so I decided to blog instead. I love blogging because I love writing. It is therapeutic for me.

Instead of just writing Happy Mother’s day! I thought to write a little more. Whoever you are out there…a spiritual Mother, a Mother that has carried a child but lost him or her, a Mother with 1 child, a Mother with 20 children, a Grandmother, a God-Mother, a StepMother this post is for you!

When I came up with the name “Camaraderie Mom” I did it because after the vocation itself, that’s what Motherhood is for me: it’s camaraderie. We are all in this together! Some days it’s GREAT to be a Mom and let’s face some days it’s just plain HARD. But the glory of it, Motherhood, is that we have our Moms and our friends to lean on and well, just plain survive! When you think to yourself about how you do it, how you are a Mom, don’t you think of your Mom or a friend of yours who is a Mom and can relate? I do. Of course our husbands are amazing but Mothers (just as Fathers) are unique. I would be utterly lost without my Mom. She is my world. She is the only person who truly understands what it is like to have so many kids back-to-back virtually without any help. And because of that she is really the only person I know I can count on in any moment of need. It is not that I do not have friends that wouldn’t help me. It is just that I know that my Mom would NEVER be inconvenienced by ANYTHING I ask her. I would never be a bother to her. Why? Because that’s her job as Mother; to be there for her kids no matter how old. And that is how I want to be for my kids too.

When we were building the Camaraderie Mom web site I wanted to make sure I included not judging each other but supporting each other. Too often you see Moms who are mean, competitive, jealous and who actually try to sabotage our Motherhood. It is sad and I did not want any of that “energy” associated with Camaraderie Mom. I don’t care if you wear yoga pants all day every day, or if you shower once a week, or even if you look perfect every day. I don’t care. I only care about supporting you and encouraging you because the vocation of being a Mother is very hard and we need all the help we can get! We are all on this journey together and we really shouldn’t waste our energy and time on negative, petty things like fighting about which Mom has the best handmade crafts on Pinterest. It not only does not do any good but it takes away from the most important things in our lives: our children. The smallest gossip will trickle down to our children and not only affect them from a negative energy standpoint but it will also send the message that it’s ok to be like that and you know what? It’s not.

So today, I am extending my camaraderie to you Moms to let you know that you are loved! You are appreciated. Those things you do that no one sees? God sees and your reward will be heavenly! You are not alone. You are supported! When things seem unmanageable you have a whole world of Moms out there ready to say, “Chin up! Keep Going! You’ve got this!” And if they are not around just message me because I don’t sleep! LOL.

The most important thing that I have just learned this past year or so is that even though I do not want to stop I have to stop and smell the flowers. These beautiful children of mine are growing up so fast and while my laundry and dirty house will be here forever my kids won’t be. So whatever you do for yourself today try to remember to enjoy that which is priceless and that which has given you this incredible title of Mother: your children! Happy Mother’s day to you Momma!

And don’t forget to…share the camaraderie! (wink)

God bless,

JoAnne

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