There are times when I feel like this world has created a million tiny islands. Islands that house everything we need to keep our bodies alive, have our family close but are missing the things we need to keep our souls connected and alive. These islands house mothers.
Each Mother Island has its occupants, us women who are waking each day, resolving to do the best we can for our children, our families, our communities, and who often forget we need to do the best for US. That what we need is missing from our island, that unity with other women and moms who get it. A connection to our fellow mothers who understand the tiredness, the guilt, the second-guessing, the fear, the joy, and the overwhelming love.
I recently read a viral FB status update posted by Beth Bornstein Dunnington, who was at LAX waiting to board her plane. She witnessed the magic that is the Power of Motherhood.
I cried. I read beautiful, moving words about a group of strangers—mothers—who saw one of their own hurting and in need, sitting on the floor crying, unable to cope with the demands on her pregnant body and her young toddler who was dealing with his own emotional meltdown. These women came together in a circle of love to give this tired mother support, safety, song, love, acceptance, and a bottle of water. Everything in my being screamed, “Yes, this is what it’s about!”
Something extraordinary at LAX today… (writing this on the plane). I was at the gate, waiting to get on my plane to…
Posted by Beth Bornstein Dunnington on Friday, 2 February 2018
It’s love.
Not judgment because another mother is doing things differently, she’s doing her best. Not anger because another mom has a differing opinion on breastfeeding, vaccinations, food, sleep options, daycares, or any of the other myriad of things that we make decisions on for our children each day, each hour.
Love.
There is tremendous power in love, mountain moving power. There is power in acceptance, life-changing power. There is power in kindness and connection, soul-saving power. There is power in this experience called motherhood.
We OWN that power, each and every woman who has cared for a child, whether their own or someone else’s, to the point of exhaustion. To the point where they sit down on the floor of an airport, exhausted, their hearts open for display, their souls screaming for help. There is power in witnessing, showing up, kneeling down and embracing their brokenness, providing a safe place for another mother to cry, to feel the overwhelm, and to heal. We women have the power to change another woman’s life, simply by connecting and accepting.
Imagine a world where our islands come together, we form whole continents that are connected by shared hopes for our children, shared desires to consistently do better, be better. Where we can reach out to a woman in need, hold her softly while she rests, knowing that when it is our turn to need, someone will be there. With a simple song, a soft shoulder and a bottle of water.
Mother Power, we have it and may we each resolve to share our power each day, without expectation, but simply with Love.
