Mother's Day

On mother's day i think of course about my mother ... and my grandmothers. My father's mother who is still alive and i miss because i live so far and see her so infrequently, and my mother's mother who passed away a few years ago, with whom i was very close (we even lived together for a while). I think of my wife who i have the pleasure of watching her be a mother to my three girls. All four women share the same "mommyness" the gentle spirit, the way that they can scold a child and love them all in the same moment (daddy will correct you and love you again in just a minute ... it is a subtle, but distinct difference). I have always loved the women in my life, of course my mother and my grandmothers, but my great grandmother was alive until i was a teenager (and quite healthy) i have 4 great aunts (three by blood) and then there are the teachers and sitters and neighbors that i have had the pleasure to meet along the way. I would list them, they deserve to be noted, but i don't know that anyone other than me would be interested. It's just on this day i think off all the wonderful things women have done ... not just the things they have done, but the thing that they ARE!
Our entire history is held up by stong women in the wings, and everyone knows an unhearlded, coragous women who just goes about her business of making the world a better place without looking to have anyone notice. It is as if making things better is reward enough (a foreign concept to men) and is exactly like motherhood ... raising children (as difficult as it is, as thankless as it is) IS the reward. What wonderful creatures specifically mothers are, and women more generally ... potential mothers. God has gifted all of you with the spirit of "the mother" the capicity to love without bounds, to protect and teach and nurture and nourish ... what a gift it is! God bless you all today! And everyday! Mommy, Angela, Grandma and Gram I love you so much!
And to close the perfect thought from "The Quiet Man" "... what's a house without a woman in it? Why, even Father Lonigan had a mother. (Father Lonigan responds) 'Whad'ya expect?'"