It feels weird to share ‘work’ during these uncertain and surreal times. But I wanted to just send virtual hugs out to the mums today on Mother’s Day. Yes, I’m sharing some photos of some beautiful mamas and their gorgeous children, but really I wanted a reason to say: you are all amazing, I am with you, we will get through this crazy time.
The intensity of daily life scheduling and the school run and flipping in and out of ‘work’ mode and ‘mum’ mode (sometimes with no warning, with a sick child at 4am and plans change instantly); an inbox that fluctuates between school emails and work emails, a calendar with reminders for out of school clubs or playdates as well as your next client visit; noticing a hole in a brand new school jumper whilst cooking the dinner with a screaming baby on your hip…that’s ‘mom life’ right, ladies? And then with a blink…a new reality is thrust upon us. One with no school run, no uniforms to wash, and this sudden sinking feeling that everything that already felt too much a lot of the time, is now beyond ‘copeable’. Because we do cope. We cope fine, we have the odd bubble bath, a cheeky gin here and there, we cry sometimes behind a locked toilet door, we rant to our friends, we scour mumsnet for validating posts, we dye our greying roots and we get the hell out of bed every morning and make it work. But man….when the fragile structure of a life we somehow ‘make work’ comes crashing down in a matter of days – on a GLOBAL scale – it’s pretty damn overwhelming.
I won’t go into the even BIGGER stuff many of us are thinking about – the world has changed beyond recognition in such a short time, a lot of us are wondering who/what we can even trust and what the future holds for us and our children at a much larger scale than ‘when will they go back to school’ (I’m with you, I really am) – but just wanted to say that while this is going to be a weird ‘lockdown’ Mother’s Day, in a way with all the commercialism stripped away we can appreciate a celebration of our role in these little people’s lives, as their protectors, providers, nurturers, educators (with or without school!), the ones who will be telling them it’s all ok and finding ways for them to feel ‘normal’ when everything feels as far from normal as ever! We do a huge thing when we choose to become mothers and continue to do that huge thing for the rest of our lives.
“Motherhood is the biggest gamble in the world. It is the glorious life force. It’s huge and scary – it’s an act of infinite optimism” – Gilda Radner
HUGE – and very real – love,
Natalie x
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