A day for happy mothers.....

"Happy Mothers' Day!" is what we say tomorrow to all mothers. What do we say to a mother who is not happy? I've known my mother for 50+ years (no need to get specific...). In all those years, I can only recall a few instances when I recognized her to be unhappy. Did she have occasion to be disillusioned, discouraged, unhappy? Of course. Life happens to each and every one of us. And so it did with her. But she seemed to look past the difficulties and concentrate rather on those more fulfilling, fun aspects of life. When I do reflect on times when her happiness was diminished, and I examine the causes, I can only recognize one source for her unhappiness. Always it had to do with relationship. People. Never "things". It's difficult to imagine when you take a look at her "lot in life". She was the mother of seven (adorable) children. Seven. Only eleven years apart. That meant she stayed home all day. Every day. Did four loads of laundry, a day. Cleaned, fed and dressed everybody. Kept the house clean and straight (no small feat with nine people). Handled disagreements, tears, questions, endless chatter, sickness, small crises and sometimes large ones (one month we were in the emergency room three out of four weekends...). Daily. Then go to bed, enjoy interrupted sleep, get up and start it all over again. OK. Yeah, you say, but some of you were in school during the day. Right. Did I forget to mention she also kept kids in her home to help supplement a pastor's salary? As with any of us there were circumstances that could have made her discontent. I guess it all comes down to focus. She had decided to be happy. Once that decision was made, only situations and circumstances that supported that focus could effect her outlook. As I look back on my childhood and home life, I always remember laughing (Daddy's influence) and singing (Mom's influence). We didn't have a lot of "things" and never enough money, but always, happiness abounded. Thanks, Mama. Happy Mother's Day!