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Hands

Mommy’s Comfort by Thomas Galvez

Mothers are awesome. As a child, instinctively clinging to the woman who gave you life or has put yours before her own, there is no more important person. She’s the one you call when you wake after a nightmare, run to with your boo-boos. You count on her, not just for the things you need, for the mere comfort of her presence. Until you’re a teenager.

I see this occurring with my son now. He’s approaching the age where he wants less to do with his parents. Hugging him is allowed under the strictest of protocols. Who else might see the hug? Is it accompanied by a kiss? How long will the hug last? Is there the potential that his hair might get messed up?

The first time one of my hugs was rebuffed, a twinge of shock and disappointment seized my breath. How much worse would it have been if I’d labored for hours before his birth and carried him in my body for months before that? The teenage years begin a lapse in our memories. While we try to figure out who we are, we forget that it doesn’t matter to the person who loves us more than anything, unconditionally. I forgot. One day, maybe my son will have kids, and they’ll forget as well.

For moms, there is good news. A day will come when mothers’ importance and the gratitude we owe them collide with deafening impacts in the middle of our hearts. The realization that we are blessed with only one mother, perhaps one we hardly see in our adulthood, will send our fingers frantically dialing our phones. And they will answer, overjoyed to hear from us, because they are our moms.

Those fleeting teenage years, when our mothers seem to cling to us with stifling love, are over before we know it. The years that follow are busy growing, learning, and maturing, sometimes with months between phone calls to dear Mom. Maybe the challenges of new parenthood jolt our memories and make us think about our mothers with new awe and appreciation. If anybody deserves to say “I told you so”, it’s a new grandmother.

Let’s remind our kids how special their bonds are to their mothers. Before their teenage years, let’s plant the seed of gratitude and water if often. It might not bloom for years, but it will take root. One day it will bear fruit. That’s always a welcome gift, on Mother’s Day or any other.

Happy Mother’s Day, to my mother and yours. Let’s help them celebrate the day because they give so many other days to us.

Leave me a comment and tell me something you appreciate about your mom. I’ll wait if you want to call her first.