Being a mother is supposed to be the toughest and the most rewarding job in the world. This is true. It is also true that on the day dedicated to mothers, (second Sunday of every May) is a nice idea when mothers receive gifts and/or are made to feel special in other ways. However, the fact is that the job of being a mother is a 24x7 gig with no holidays or timeouts. As a mother of two; I acknowledge that it’s a tough job. I am also deeply mindful of the truth of these memes:
It is also exasperating! When my firstborn said mumma, I fairly melted. When my second born said it, I was rather less enthused because by then the novelty had worn of somewhat. By then I had had to answer at least fifty thousand questions and fulfilled as many demands prefaced by that heart-melting term.
Becoming a mother means that a woman longs for 10 minutes to just shower in peace; without any knocking on the door or worse, without the door flying open without warning.
Things she enjoyed before becoming a mum? Well, those get put on the back burner for the foreseeable future. Right now, she’ll just settle for this.
…Become blessings. Yes, yes, it’s wonderful to chat with and bond with one's kids and all. But silence? That sound of silence can be blissful. Occasionally.
A woman may be a high-power executive, a celebrity, a doctor or policewoman. For her kid, she is just a mother – as such, she is will do all that the job description demands.
Maybe it’s the joy of one less chore to perform for that kid each day. Maybe it just seems as though that kid is a genius… because motherhood is like that.
Motherhood is frequently frustrating as f **k. Mothers find their own ways to cope. For instance, when my kids refused to eat a particular thing, I would eat and finish it off right in front of them. Soon they grew to understand that it was a case of eat what she offers or starve – a lesson well learned.
We remind our kids about the great sacrifices we made for them; the pain and anguish we underwent for them. Because hey! A little emotional blackmail is OK, right? After all, we are all entitled to the occasional tragic-filmi-Nirupa Roy moment, aren't we?
When the toy phone has driven us completely round the bend and the little piano has played ba ba black sheep for the 350th time, surreptitious extraordinary measures may be called for. Taking away the batteries and pretending to know nothing about them is just a harmless white lie, isn't it?
We appreciate the gesture – we really do! I hugely appreciated the excellent meals my kids made for me on Mother's day, but what I really, really want for mother's day is just… nothing really. I wouldn’t change a thing. I will probably continue to nag and they will continue to roll their eyes in the grave misconception that they know better. Life as we know it will continue to unfold because once a woman becomes a mother, she remains one for the rest of her days. In other words, every day is Mother's day.
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