Proclaiming motherhood....part 1

"Portrait de la belle-fille de Maxim Gorki (Motherhood)" by Boris Dmitrievich Grigor'ev (1886-1939)

At some point in the last several days a vision of clarity and deep gratitude washed over me concerning the role mothering has played in my life.  As a young mother (more than a few years ago for me) you struggle to lay yourself bare to the process of giving your whole to the care and well-being of these little people you have created.  It seems as though you are always being asked to dispense more than you have, let alone more than your natural woman would like to part with. It's not that you don't want to give it - it's just that you want to keep something for yourself. There's a feeling of trying to hold on to some vestage of your pre-mother independance.  At age 56 (almost 57) I am (sort of) approaching the other end of the continum.  (I say sort of because I still have three of my offspring at home in the throws of teenagehood.)  However, I've seen enough of my children venture off into adulthood and form homes of their own to have an almost full spectrum vantage point.  As I view past years from this scenic overlook, I find I have become willing and gratefull  to be defined by my motherhood.  There's nothing I want more, nothing that even remotely compares in deep-seated rewards than emersing self in hearth and home.  I have traveled some (Rome, Egypt, Israel, Hawaii, much of the US each several times over).  I worked in sales for over 15 years, received top accolaids  and sat on the company's executive board.  There are other rewarding ventures that have come and gone.  Nothing, however, comes even remotely close to the peace of heart and mind that comes to me when I emmerse my life in my children and their ensuing offspring.  (There are 8 thus far.)  I can see the future exploding into who know how many more and I can hardly contain my excitement over the unlimited potential of joyous posterity.  If I were to offer some advice (how well, though, I understand that there's no way to really pass on this vision) to the younger generation of mothers it would be "keep working at it" - "do your best" - "chin up" because I can promise that down the road (even thru stretches full of potholes and teeth-jarring bumps) there are big dividends that keep growing long after other excitement and endeavors have faded into "so what" obscurity.