Mothers as Fathers

 
Yesterday, I wished my mother a Happy Father's Day.  We laughed about it but, in truth, Mom had to be both a mother and a father.  My own father passed away suddenly when I was two years old.  Mom never remarried and so each year, when Father's Day comes around, I think of how she had to do it all.  Overnight she had to go back to work when all she ever wanted was to stay at home and mother her two little girls.   

Losing my Father was never very sad for me.  I was simply too young to remember anything about him.  Years later, as I look at my own two year old, tromping on the beach with his daddy in tow, the loss is finally tangible.  I had no fishing trips, no camp-outs, no games of basketball in the driveway.  Missing out on these things brings me no regret.  But thinking of my mother, widowed at age 32, never sharing the joys of parenting with the father of her daughters, never having someone hold her hand at night, that is what makes me miss my Dad most of all.  

But being a mother and a father makes a woman strong.  One of the gifts of my childhood was seeing my mother's success in the workplace, her ability to juggle home and work, and to demonstrate for her daughters that a woman can do whatever she must do.  

Happy Father's Day Mom.  You are the best Dad a girl could have!

family walk in the morning

late sunsets

movie popcorn

hydrangeas in the mail

rainy afternoon naps

 tiny one behaving in church

 sharing my Moe's Joey Bag of Donuts with two hungry sons

time to think

Celtic music on Pandora

Rory Mcilroy role model

father's day family fun
my earthly mother

my heavenly fathers 


 

 

Stop over and read more gratitude lists: