A Very Special Mother’s Day!

On this Sunday morning, in addition to wishing my wife of 40 years a Happy Mother’s Day, I wanted to wish a particularly special Mother’s Day to all Moms.  It was a number of years ago that I last wrote about Mother’s Day focusing specifically on my mom, my wife, and my daughter who was soon expecting her first child.  But given what has been happening this year, I thought you moms, especially those with small children, deserved a very special tribute.  And those that I particularly wanted to recognize are my daughter and two daughters-in-law, the mothers of our five grandchildren.

My daughter has always been “Daddy’s little girl.”  She is the one mom that I have witnessed grow from an infant, through childhood and adolescence into adulthood and motherhood.  In fact, even at an early age, I could tell she was going to be a great mom by how she carefully laid out all her dolls for afternoon nap-time.

She and I have always had a special relationship and so it seems appropriate that she would be the mother of our first grandchild, a fine young boy that will be turning six this year.

Interestingly, I was in a meeting learning about the sale of the company I worked for that I got a FaceTime call from her from the hospital to introduce me to our first grandchild.  And to top off such a special occasion, when she told me his name, they had given as his middle name, my first name. When I told her, I was very touched and humbled, she said she had been planning to do that her entire life.

Four years later, as my wife was jetting out to Seattle to help with what would be our fourth grandchild, my daughter gave birth to her second son, whose middle name he took from his paternal grandfather, a perfect balancing.  That fine young fellow turned two this year.

Next up to be recognized is my first daughter-in-law, the woman, whom upon marrying our oldest son, expanded our family from five to six members.  Her joining our family technically gave me for the first time two daughters.  While I did not have the opportunity to witness her growing up, over the last ten years, in spite of always living remotely, I have gotten to know her much better.  And when I learned she was the same Meyers-Brigg type as me, ISTJ, I knew we could easily relate and understand each other.

She became a mom in 2015 when she gave birth to their first child, a daughter, our third grandchild, and second granddaughter.  Ironically, our two oldest children, our first-born son and our daughter were just 13 months apart in age.  Now older brother and sister had their first child, the opposite sex of their parent, each 14 months apart.

About three years later, our daughter-in-law gave birth to their second child, a son, and our fifth grandchild.  Now both our oldest children each had a family that made the perfect square of 2.

The third mom I want to honor this morning is my second daughter-in-law.  With her addition to our family, I now had technically three daughters.  Also, in 2015, she gave birth to their first child, a daughter, our second grandchild, and first granddaughter.  With the three of them living in the same town with my wife and me, she has been the one grandchild that we have seen the most as she has grown up.

And now our second daughter-in-law is expecting their second child in September so not only is she currently a mom, but a mom-in-waiting as well.

I have proudly watched these three moms weather the challenge of a nine-month pregnancy, endure the pains of childbirth (a pain us men never experience) and then raise their children setting a perfect example of motherhood.  A child’s relationship with the mom who brought him or her into the world is always special and I must say our grandchildren are blessed to have the best moms they could ever hope for.

So, I particularly wanted to honor these three moms this year given what I know they have gone through since February with all the Shelter-in-Place, Stay-at-Home, and Safer-at Home orders that have been implemented to stem the spread of the pandemic.  All of a sudden, in addition to the roles each one already had, they now became a stay at home mom providing not only care but education for their little ones as well.  And with all the statutes in place, they couldn’t even take their little ones out to a park where they would often go for outdoor activities.  I know it was not easy for any of them and most probably each just lived it a day at a time.

We all have lived through these unprecedented times.  When things will ever return to some state of normalcy, no one knows.  But until that day comes, these dedicated moms will continue to provide the care and loving of Herculean moms!  These are very special moms and they deserve tremendous recognition for what they have done.

Thank you to each of you!