As we approach Mother’s Day this Sunday, I have been pondering what I should write for this blog post. In fact, I have rewritten this post several times only to tell myself that I needed to scrap what I had written and start again……
Being a mother is not easy. I became a mother 10 1/2 years ago to an amazing little boy, Samuel, who has now grown into a young boy that is almost as tall as me. Where does the time go??? I then became a mother to my beautiful Hannah Kate and then my sweet baby David. These years of motherhood have been filled with extreme joy and pain. The life that I thought I would lead as a mother is NOT at all what I live today. Watching your children navigate through this world filled with exciting things as well as cruel things can be an emotional roller coaster.
Let’s be honest, having a child with autism can be exhausting at times. I try to explain something to him and he can’t seem to grasp it or he is trying to tell me something but he can’t express it like a typically developing child. I see my frustration as well as his frustration….. Our world tells us that everyone should be the same and fit into a certain mold. As moms, we want this “PERFECT” dream of what we thought our children should look like or act like. We fall victims to the “Social Media Wars”, you know what I am talking about…Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. As moms, we try to crown ourselves with the “World’s Best Mom” award. We try to outdo the mom next door or the other moms at school. We get sucked into this world of who’s child’s birthday party or bedroom decorations are worthy of Pinterest or get the most Facebook “likes”. We focus so much on how other moms will view us that we forget to see how our children view us. I am GUILTY of this so please don’t think I am talking just to you!
I am blessed to have three beautiful children. They each have AMAZING qualities about them that make me stop in my tracks to see things through their eyes. My sweet baby David, isn’t a baby anymore. He is about to turn 5 in a month…. David is my child that makes me laugh. Even on the worst days, he makes me laugh. David is full of joy and laughter. He has the most amazing blue eyes, blond hair and wears the sweetest wire-framed,round eyeglasses. You can’t get upset at him even when he writes on his bedroom door with a sharpie and explains to you that it says, “You can come in and you can go out.” Then there is my beautiful and smart Hannah Kate who will turn 7 this summer. Hannah Kate is wise beyond her years. She listens to EVERYTHING and takes it all in. This brown eyed beauty is determined in everything that she does. She aspires for greatness and loves with all her soul. Her new favorite song is “He Will Never Be” by LynnMarie Rink. This now brings me to Samuel. Samuel will turn 11 this fall and he was recently featured in the music video for the song, “He Will Never Be”. This video and song will bring you to tears as you watch and listen to LynnMarie Rink sing. For those of you that haven’t seen Samuel in a while, he is the child in the video holding up the coloring pencils and then showing the camera the picture that he drew. Toward the end of the video you will see all of us standing together and you will see how he is almost as tall as I am. Samuel is “Heaven Kissed” as the song says. He shows me the world through the most amazing hazel eyes.
“He’ll be misunderstood, pitied, even hated
But at the end of the day
That boy is heaven kissed”
Samuel will never be a pessimist, prejudice, a cynic, a chauvinist, or a bigamist. He shows me what I need to be…
As I finish my blog for Mother’s Day, I want to encourage each of you to sit for awhile with your children and snuggle them close. Remember that it doesn’t matter what others think, it is your children that are watching you. Encourage the other moms around you and be the best mom that you can be. I look forward to hearing from all of you as you continue on this journey of motherhood for the next year, 6 years, 16 years, 26 years and beyond…..Motherhood never ends and knows no boundaries even if you have lost a child, waiting to have your baby, or waiting for the adoption papers to be signed, Happy Mother’s Day my sweet, amazing mom friends!
