I’ll state the obvious here, I’m not a mother and I really can’t explain what it’s like to be a mother. Except from the postition of being a Dad and perhaps the fact that I have a loving mother myself.
Recently I’ve been watching a litter of stay kittens that have turned up in our back forest and yard over the last 3-4 weeks and as much has these kittens are great fun to watch, playing fighting and exploring. I’ve also been observing the mother cat.
As a mother, she is doing everything possible she can do to protect them and raise them. Always watching over them, hunting for food, correcting their bad behavior, and frequently playing the same games with them to teach them how to be a cat.
Now, here is the thing. No one taught her how to do this, there are no support groups she can attend when things get tough. She just inherintly knows this stuff. At the moment she gives birth (probably earlier than this) and sees her young, something changes in her. Something hard wired into the fabric of her being just switches on. She can’t ignore it, she can’t walk away for long. Every single tread of her existence is to be a mother. It’s like she is cursed, in a good way. Perhaps blessed is a better word.
I see proof of this every day in my own home. My wife is one of the best mothers you will ever find. I don’t know where she gets this superpower from but I see it in her and in other mothers over and over again. As a Dad I can try, but I reckon i’ll only ever get to about 65% of what a mum is capable of.
So happy Mother’s Day.
