A tribute to mothers, grandmothers, stepmothers, aunts, and every woman who ever showed up
There is a woman in your life who showed you something without meaning to.
Maybe she taught you how to fold a fitted sheet, or how to make gravy, or how to forgive someone who does not deserve it. Maybe she drove you to soccer practice at six in the morning without complaint. Maybe she sat at the edge of your bed when you were sick and just being there was the whole thing.
Maybe she was your mother. Or your grandmother, your aunt, your stepmother, a neighbor who kept a key to your house and always had something on the stove. Maybe she was a woman who stepped in without being asked, without a title, without anyone telling her she was supposed to.
These women. These extraordinary, ordinary women.
Today is for all of them.
I count myself among the lucky ones. My mother made every ordinary day feel like it mattered. The after-school snacks in decorative muffin cups, the notes left in my car on her way to work, the way she always put everyone else first without once making us feel like a burden. I had seven aunts on my mother’s side who took us Easter shopping and camping and on our first trip to Europe, who showed up for every birthday and every hard season without being asked. And when I married Bill I gained Betty, a mother-in-law who claimed me as a daughter from the very first day and never once made me feel I had to earn it. Not everyone gets that. I know it.
Mothering is not a biology. It is a practice. It is showing up, repeatedly, in the small ways that do not make the news and do not get the credit but shape everything. It is the woman who made you feel less alone in the world. The one who laughed when you needed someone to laugh. The one who told you the truth when everyone else was being kind.
If you are a mother of any kind today, I hope someone says it clearly: what you do matters, the big things and all of the little things in between. The love you give in the quiet, unremarkable, Tuesday-afternoon ways is building something. Someone is carrying it right now in their heart, mind and memories.
And if Mother’s Day is complicated for you this year, I see you. If you have lost your mother, your Betty, your aunt who always knew what to say — these days can be tender and sharp all at once. You are allowed to feel all of it.
To every woman who has ever mothered anyone in any way, thank you.
The world is softer because you were in it.
Happy Mother’s Day, have a wonderful day.
If you enjoyed this post, I would love it if you shared it. You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterestand X — I would love to have you along.
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That’s truly beautiful, Elizabeth. You must write a book. Thank you for sharing, and happy Mothers Day!
Christina, thank you! That is very kind of you to say.
Happy Mother’s Day to you!