Thank you Mom

Spent yesterday with our hostess here in New Jersey. She's a full-time mom, W, who gave up her architect career to raise 3 kids, one 7-year old boy, one 3-year-old girl, and a baby girl whose age I have yet to find out. Such women have always "wowwed" me, but after yesterday, I realized that these women deserve way more respect and appreciation than they are due...or at least than they are due from me.

W, for the first time in my life, opened my eyes to what it means to be a mom. I know I only spent one day with her, so there must still be a LOT more than met my eye yesterday. But already, the responsibilities that are on her around the clock overwhelm me. The sacrifice of sleep, the rushing here and there to get the kids to school and various other classes, the crying that you have to put up with, the whimses of the kids...and the list goes on and on. I went to bed last night thinking about my own mom. She must've gone through something similar as she had 3 kids and our age gaps are about the same too. Yet how have I shown appreciation for what she's done over the years? In fact, until last night, the thought of appreciation for her changing my diapers, patting me to sleep, etc. never quite made it across the threshold of my mind!

I wonder how many people out there in the world have given themselves to noble causes such as raising a kid and yet have received no appreciation for their labor. I look at myself and shame comes on me because not only have I not shown gratitude where it is due, but also many a time I've complained in my mom's face about her close-mindedness. And I remember all those times over the dinner table when my sibling trash my mom's cooking. Sorry Mom, for MY close-mindness and lack of understanding. And thank you Mom, for finding reasons to love and for loving such a wretch like me!