MamaBlooMarriage. Motherhood. Life.

No One Like Mom

§ May 7th, 2010 § Filed under Reflections & Confessions § Tagged confessions, holidays, motherhood, posts with pictures § 3 Comments

I am the mother of pirate.

That same pirate is also a jedi, a superhero, a secret agent, and a paleontologist. 

Before Ty was born I knew that becoming a mom would be transformative.  I knew that in my head but I didn’t know it in my heart until I had this little baby in my arms and I knew… knew… I would never be the same. 

My mom describes motherhood like this.  When your child is born there is a rope (I am speaking metaphorically here… I would never advocate giving a rope to a newborn.)  The mommy holds most of the rope and the baby has a grip on just the fray at the end.  Slowly, slowly we start to hand over more of the rope to our kids — giving them more control, more say, more of themselves.  And, in turn, we get less control, less say, and less of them.  Until one day we see that they have the whole rope and we are gripping the fray at the end. 

The first time this was put to the test was when Ty was about  18 months old.  The older girls had been living with us for a few months and Ty chose Jade INSTEAD OF ME to read him his afternoon book. My first thought was to recoil and start reeling in that rope… but luckily I got ahold of myself.  There have also been times when Ty has tried to grab so much, no, TOO much of the rope for him to handle.  Like the time he was 2 years old and used a variety of household items — fire poker, stool, hanger — to try and break into Grandma’s car.  

Last week Ty turned five.  Before his birthday I thought I would be terribly depressed and blue at the thought of his turning five.  I thought I would have “rope burns” as a bit more of the rope was yanked through my hands.  Instead, I found myself willing handing it over with a quiet peace of mind that although my boy was growing up, that he was exactly where he was supposed to be and so was I.

I teased him by saying, “When you turn five, will you still hug me?”  “Yes!” he said.  “Will you still wanna cuddle?”  “Yes!” he yelled. “Will you still climb into bed with me when you have a bad dream?”  “Yes, MOMMY,” he said, “I will always hug you and kiss you and wanna sleep with you and cuddle you and love you and give you MARATHON kisses!”  And, I know that all of this is not exactly the truth. He will, afterall, go on to love other people — his wife, his kids, his grandkids. And I will almost for sure be the overbearing mother in law that makes everyone’s eyes roll.  Showing up with my color coded calendar of activities and still licking my finger to wipe a smudge off of his cheek.  But, I do know that my love for him is a gift.  That NO ONE will ever love HIM like I do.  No one.  Because no one loves you like your mom.  And, I get to be “mom.”  And that is a good thing.

So, avast the sails, me hearties.  May the force be with you.  Up, up and away.  Get out your decorder ring. Dig up some T-rex bones.  And have a very Happy Mother’s Day!