If you identify as a mother on Mother’s Day 2020, I wish that I could give you a break. I wish you could push the pause button for 24 hours and take a deep breath, a nap, a walk, and a vacation. We have all been momming hard this year. We’ve had to adapt to a change of circumstance, whether drastic or minor, and we’ve had to help the rest of our family navigate that change as well. Feelings of anxiety, depression, frustration, fatigue, and overwhelm are probably at an all-time high. Neither our moms nor our grandmothers had to parent through a pandemic, so we don’t have them to look to for guidance for this particular scenario. For one day, I wish I could give you a break from the planning, organizing, refereeing, cooking, cleaning, and all of the other roles that consume you as a mom. Yes, we enjoy it, it’s fulfilling, we wouldn’t trade it, but we could appreciate a pause on the demands for a day.
I wish I could give you a pat on the back. I see you going the extra mile to clean and make sure your family is safe and healthy. I see you working from home and juggling babies and toddlers and school age kids needing you every minute of the day. I see you driving to work and worrying that you’re being exposed to the virus and bringing it back home. I see you trying to keep the peace between your kids and also make fun memories with them. I see you figuring out what to feed all those people in your house multiple times a day. I see you doing your best.
I wish I could give you a hug. You’re missing your friends, coworkers, family members, church family members, your kids’ teachers, coaches, therapists, babysitters, and more. You’re holding things together for your family. You might feel like you’re losing it, like all you do is yell, or hide in the bathroom, or find something mind-numbing to do. It’s okay. There’s grace for you, and new mercies every morning, both on days when you’re rocking this thing, and days when you feel like the most unqualified mom on the planet. You’re missing normalcy and routines you enjoyed without having to think about hand sanitizer, masks, and Lysol spray. You’ve no doubt experienced the full range of human emotions over and over in the past two months. I would hope my hug could communicate to you that it’s okay to feel what you’re feeling and that you are not alone.
I wish I could give you a glimpse of the future. You would see all the ways that you will grow and change because of this unique period of time. You would see the fruit in your children from all of the nurture you’ve poured into them. You would see how your relationships will deepen by walking through this difficult experience together. You would see things you no longer take for granted, and be filled with gratitude.
Whatever this Mother’s Day holds or lacks, I pray you see beauty in it, and in your children, for they make this Mother’s Day significant for you, whether or not they acknowledge your important place in their lives.
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