Mother's Day Reflections

I had a wonderful first Mother's Day, with my only un-granted wish being that I could have hugged my mom! However, we did share a lovely phone conversation, and I was inspired to dig up one of our first photos together:
This was taken on November 28, 1978, when I was two days old! I love you, Mom!

While we're still on the subject of Mother's Day, and because a few people have asked, here are the words that I composed and spoke yesterday at the Mother's Day Blessing at Saint Bart's Church. I was asked to give an offering expressing gratitude as a new mother, and this is what I said (while the sleeping Kiddo nursed in a sling!):

"I would like to offer these words as a grateful meditation on being blessed with the experience of being my Kiddo's mom. At the same time, I intend for my words to serve as an acknowledgment of all women experiencing the joys and trials and personal growth of new-motherhood.

Some things that motherhood has brought me and for which I am grateful are:

my child's love, his trust, his exuberance, his complete honesty, his boldness, his zest for exploration, his sense of humor, his love of music and dance and animals and the outdoors, his ability to connect with people, and his ability to communicate profoundly without words.

I am grateful for the journey of discovery that has been motherhood. One of the most powerful things that I have gained in the last eleven months is a very heightened sense of 'being in the moment.'

My child constantly reminds me to slow down. Look deeper. Listen harder. Live more consciously and eliminate the superficial and unimportant. Listening to my son and striving to respond to his needs in a connected and attentive way has revolutionized my life. My son teaches me to see beauty and wonder and joy in the everyday moments that once might have been lost or glossed over in the rush of life. For that I am grateful.

My prayer today is that this lesson of intense, motherly listening be extended to the whole world. That mothers, fathers, children, brothers, and sisters everywhere be inclined to listen to one another with sensitivity and love. In the way that a new mother strives to gracefully attune to her newborn, may we all seek to slow down, listen, and treat each other as precious and sacred beings."