Always a Mom

I've heard motherhood described as the biggest club in the world.   I have several friends who are missionaries overseas, or are preparing to move overseas, with small children.   One of the things my friends who travel internationally with babies and toddlers have remarked about is the fact that, no matter where they are and what language or cultural barriers there may be, the bond of motherhood transcends it all.   A mom knows what another mom is feeling when her 3 year old is throwing a tantrum in public, while the baby is also crying.    A mom knows what another mom is feeling when her 4 year old runs up to her at the park and gives a big hug saying "I love you, Mommy!"

Recently a family member has been hospitalized and is currently faced with the likelihood at least part of his foot will be amputated by the end of the week.   Upon hearing this news the other night one of my first thoughts were of what his mom must be feeling.  This is a grown man, in his 40's, and yet my heart ached for his mom.   I am a mom.   I can't imagine the toes I've kissed so many times, the feet I've placed shoes on, the feet I watched walk for the first time, being surgically removed from my child.   My child will always be my child, but it's odd to me to think about the fact that this mother's child will no longer have all of the "parts" she carried and cared for. 

My thoughts immediately turned to the mothers of servicemen and women who have lost limbs in battle.   Earlier this evening and I was watching the news and they showed a clip of a mom dedicating a Naval Destroyer that was named after her son, Jason Dunham.   In the short clip I started crying as I thought about the pain that mom has felt over the past few years, and the void she will feel the rest of her life.

I have friends who have walked through the valley of the shadow of death in having had to bury their own children.  It's a pain I can't begin to fathom and an ache I know they feel daily.

A few months ago I wrote this funny look at life as a mom.   It was my most commented on blog, to date, because we can all identify with these things in a way that a person without kids doesn't.  I also wrote recently about how I am who I am because of the people in my life, and my relationship to them.  Nothing in my life has changed me as much as becoming a mom has.

On the rough days I remind myself that other moms have survived having a 2 year old and a 4 year old at the same time, and I will, too.     I can sympathize with the woman in Target who has a kid screaming so loud, she thinks they can hear her son in the parking lot because I've been there.  I can empathize with the mom whose son is facing life-changing surgery because, while I haven't been there, I have a mother's heart.

I am a proud member of the Mommy Club.