May 09, 2013

To You, Dear Mothers

To all you mothers out there – birth mothers, in-the-middle-of-the-process adoptive mothers, adoptive mothers with children, foster mothers, surrogate mothers, and biological mothers:

You are brave, powerful women.

As we come upon Mother’s Day and Birth Mother’s Day, we fully recognize that despite marketing campaigns, and all of the flowers sent, and breakfast-in-bed recipe ideas and television commercials and e-blasts galore pounding it into our heads to celebrate our mothers, that this is not an easy day for every one. For some, like our family, it is bittersweet. It is a day where we will cherish our beautiful children and enjoy our queen-for-the day status, but it is also the first Mother’s Day we will have without our own mother. For women who have miscarried, placed their babies for adoption, lost their own mothers or are coming off a failed adoption, Mother’s Day is hard. It is a reminder of what has been lost, or has yet to occur, and not the celebration of the joys of motherhood that everyone tells us it should be.

Conversely, if you are the biological or adoptive or foster mother of happy, healthy children, this is a beautiful day. If you have your own mother to celebrate, what a special thing it is to be able to treat her and to share with her the love that you feel from her every day. If this is your first Mother’s Day, how wonderful! What an unbelievable treat to be able to finally enjoy this heartfelt holiday with other mothers and with your own family.

Motherhood comes in all shapes and sizes. It is a role filled with joy, anger, frustration, laughter, tragedy, comedy, overwhelming exhaustion, not enough time, blissful happiness, and too much love to be contained by one beating heart.

But it is you, Mothers, Soon-to-be-Mothers and Hope-to-be-Mothers of the world, who make our children grow, our universe turn and who generate more love and kindness than anyone else on Earth. And for all those days when you don’t feel like anyone is noticing who you are or what you’re doing – we see you. And even more, we are so thankful to work in an industry and for an organization that celebrates every inch of the miracle of motherhood  – through its trials, its confusions and its happiness.

Thank you for everything you do, and for loving your children so hard and so strong – children for whom you are forced to make unimaginable choices and sacrifices each and every day.

We are so proud to know you!

Love,

Abby’s One True Gift