A friend gave me this quote a couple of months ago and tonight it helped put all today's tragic mom moments into perspective. So here is one for all the moms who feel like that didn't do anything important today!
I Really Lived
by Marjorie Hinckley
"I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long perfectly manicured fingernails.
I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with grass stains on my shoes from mowing Sister Schenk's lawn. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor's children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder.
I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived."
Tonight when my husband got home from work and asked me how my day was, I answered, "Ah, you know, the usual. Nothing real spectacular." For some reason, the answer I gave didn't sit right with me. Really? Nothing spectacular? And then I started thinking about it...really thinking about my job as a mom.
This is the hardest job I have ever had. I've had some challenging jobs in some challenging places but nothing like this. I'm learning how to do a million things and learning so much about myself that no university or advanced degree could ever give me. Today my children were fed, clothed, played with, loved, cuddled, kissed, tickled, taught and put to bed in a place where they knew they were safe and protected. Today my children learned new things and laughed out loud. Today Jacob held his little baby sister in his arms and announced that he was big enough now to protect her. Today Matthew told me a million "Knock, knock" jokes with the same punchline and he was so cute and sincere that I laughed out loud at every single one. Today Hannah grabbed my face and sucked on my cheek and I couldn't put her down because I loved her so much. Today I not only took care physically of a household full of people but I tried my hardest to take care of them emotionally and spiritually and intellectually. Do we ever stop to think as mothers about every single individual child in this big world that did not have you or anyone like you to do all those things for them today? I can't tell you what it does to me when I think about children being cold or hungry or alone. I hate all the children I've met who never had a childhood. I hate that I know way too many children who don't go to bed feeling safe or protected and don't know any other emotions besides fear or hate or emptiness. I hate that there are kids roaming streets and being taken advantage of in ways we can't even fathom. I don't like that I have names and faces behind so many of these tragedies. I didn't have an uneventful day where I didn't do anything. Today I changed the world for 3 small people who I hope will go out one day and change the world for lots more people. It makes every moment seem so critical and important and every event filled with meaning. And I hope that I don't ever lose a place in my heart or mind or emotions for every child out there that didn't have anyone who cared today.
Your day was pretty important.
9 comments:
Thank you. Somehow I KNOW you left this post for me!
This should be a mantra that gets chanted every morning!
i hate people who downplay what it means to be a full time mother. for anyone who feels it is unfair that men hold the priesthood because they say "its so sexist that men declare they must do the import jobs". they dont know what they're talking about. if men werent HANDED responsibility like priesthood and supporting the family, we would never even come close to accomplishing anything the women we call 'mother' have done.
...not that i wish i got cramps every month but you know what i mean....
My goodness. I think we should copy this quote from espencerrr on the LDS Singles Women, looking for great guys Blog.
Very nicely stated, young skywalker!
Spencer...you are awesome! I adore you. Come visit us soon.
"Do we ever stop to think as mothers about every single individual child in this big world that did not have you or anyone like you to do all those things for them today?" --hit me like a ton of bricks, I tell you. Thank you, Amy.
Spencer, you just won the love and allegiance of all the women who know you--okay, you probably had it before your comment but that cemented it pretty good. Amy, you and Marjorie make a good blogging team and that was a profound and important message. I hope all my children feel that way about their role as parents. Where were you when I needed to hear that on my not-so perfect-mother days? Oh yeah, you were having to put up with me as a mother. I'm glad you turned out so wonderful anyway!
Today I fed my child, rocked him to sleep, entertained him--he learned all sorts of new skills and grew in many ways...and oddly, I DID just sit around and watch TV--what irony! (He's a very easy child. What can I say?) Seriously though, what inspiration! You could write one of those books: "Chicken Soup for the Mom's Soul" or something. I am excited...and scared...but excited mostly that I will get to unserstand all that so soon. Love you, you good mommy you!
Wow, I love the passion with which you write, and the startling cohesiveness of your train-of-thoughts. I too have this quote posted on my fridge and read it nearly every day. Pres. Hinckley has an amazing "other half".
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