Both Sides of the Fence

A Tosa resident since 1991, Christine walks the dog, cooks but avoids housework, writes and reads, and enjoys the company of friends and strangers. Her job takes her around the state, learning about people's health. A Quaker (no, they don't wear blue hats or sell oatmeal or motor oil), she has been known to stand on both sides of the political and philosophic fence at the same time, which is very uncomfortable when you think about it. She writes about pretty much whatever stops in to visit her busy mind at the moment. One reader described her as "incredibly opinionated but not judgmental." That sounds like a good thing to strive for!

Shifting gears on Mother's Day

Mother's Day

The housekeeper at work, a woman about my age, told me about the Mother’s Day feast she was planning for all the young mothers in her family.

"I got me linen and candles and new recipes: 17 ladies coming!" she said. "Those girls, they need someone to look after them." Not all of her guests were the young mothers, of course, but the grandmothers, aunts, and other women who make up the caring village parenting needs. The good fairies who bless and watch over children, no matter whose they are.

We talked about loving our children and feeding people, and then we hugged, two grandma-aged women whose hopes and dreams are as much for the next generation as they are for our own.

I keep thinking Lois’s tradition is a much better one than my family tradition, centering on the oldest mom. With all the previous generation now gone, that would be me. But I’m not well suited to being the matriarch. I’d much rather be driving up to Oshkosh with flowers and cake to join the small group of Mom’s offspring and their offspring and their offspring's offspring.

Things change.

So I’d like to wish a happy Mother’s Day especially to those of you who are in the thick of raising kids. It’s such a whirlwind of pleasure and boredom, exhaustion and more pleasure. Take time to breathe and now and then, channel your inner Grandma (or Grandpa, as the case may be). She will let you just enjoy them and forget, for a moment, the heavier responsibility of shaping them.

 

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