MOM, the Name I Most Cherish
While still a young girl, I often played “mommy” with my dolls and tried to imagine what it would be like if my dolly were alive and she cried, really wet her diaper and ate the food that I so lovingly put into her rose-bud mouth. At the age of 22, I experienced my newborn daughter’s first cry, changed her first wet diaper and lovingly fed her from my breast. With tears in my eyes I found out what it was like to have a real live baby and it was a really fantastic feeling. Then, came reality and I was no longer “playing mommy” and her cries sometimes kept me up at night as I gently rocked her, held her and eventually laid her, sleeping peacefully back in her crib. I marveled at how a being so small could cry so loud and for so long! And, those diapers! Not, only did she wet them, but what a marvelous color of yellow stool she could produce too!
Now, I had to learn how to clean those diapers white again and make them smell sweet, once more. There is nothing quite so marvelous as the feeling a mom gets when she watches her child receive nourishment, watch her grow and know that it came from you, from mom. Breast-fed or bottle, you still marvel at how your child responds to your caring for her and yes, you feel proud of your ability to do so successfully. All the imaginings of a small girl were not even close to the real thing. A real baby has the ability to rouse mom from a deep sleep with the tiniest whimper, and the smell from just one diaper can knock out the biggest of men! But, oh, when you put a real baby to nurse at your breast and she tugs oh so gently, there is also a tug at your heart and you know that being mom is who you want to be, and that being mom, is who you are.
Then, comes the day when, out of her mouth comes the word, you most cherish…..mama, mum, maaaaa, no matter how they pronounce that first try at mom, we know instantly the effort and love the sound of it! We will never tire from hearing “mom” and as they grow, we learn to respond to the different sounds of it, we know the alarmed sound, and the scared sound, and the “I’m hurt” sound, and the “I’m sorry” sound, of the word mom. And we know that “mom” can be all things to a child, teacher, nourisher, healer, and friend. We know that mom is tireless, the best reader, singer, and buddy.
We know that mom stands for crusader of all her child’s causes and will do battle to protect her young from bullies, bad teachers, and drunk drivers. Mom is mom forever. The name, mom is cherished, forever too. Give your mom a hug today and thank her for being your mom first, so that you could experience, being a mom yourself. On Mother’s Day and every day, lets all be thankful that we have been blessed with our children, for it is they, who with their very being, have given us the name of MOM.
