MAY 2017
MOTHERS
FROM
MAURO
WITH
LOVE
Behind every mother, there is a woman who shows patience, sacrifice and compromise. She forgets herself, disappears and passes into the background, gradually abandoning her share of femininity to devote body and soul to her family. She forgets to make up hte dark circles around her eyes, the stigma of a sleepless night, cooking what's best for her toddlers without having time to swallow a bite, sometimes leaves her job to become a full-time mom.
Here is the letter screaming of truth from a mum's daily life A mother holds the hand of her daughter, scarcely higher than three apples, which trots by her side, on the way to school. Distracted, a thousand and one things crossing her mind, she thinks of all she will have to do: shopping, housekeeping, cooking. She is overwhelmed and exhausted from accomplishing all these household tasks like a robot and is anxious that her daughter is big enough to go to school on her own. Maybe then she will have a little more time to devote to herself, time to get a manicure, to get away with a girlfriend or a romantic trip with her husband. This mother also has a young infant who demands all her attention.
The nights are endless, she sleeps only at the rhythm of her children. Today, what she aspires to the most in the world: to relax, even for a few hours only. Yet these moments are invaluable, for they will never be repeated again.
Yet the letter she wrote, entitled "The Last Time" should open our eyes to something that is paid with too little attention. From the moment you huddle your baby against you for the first time, you are not the same woman. You might want to come back to the one you were before, when you were free and carefree, when your time belonged to you and when nothing particular disturbed your peace of mind. Now you are more exhausted than ever... The days go by and a mother's day is punctuated by feedings, teething, baby bottles, small bobos, layers to change, whining and quarreling, naps or sleepless nights. She does not see the end of it...
But, don't forget: These are the last times of each of these moments... A day will come when it will be the last time you will feed your child or give him his bath. And this will be the last time you cuddle him before he falls asleep. One day, you will carry him in your arms, then he will ask you to let him go back on the ground. You will wash her curls, her face and her little plump feet, but after that day, baby will grow up and will want to wash herself. He will stretch out his hand, scared, to cross the road, but he will not ask you any more when he learns to do it by himself. He will slip into your bed in the middle of the night when he will have a nightmare... Then it will be the last night he wakes you up and ask to sleep in your arms... You will sing to him nursery rhymes and lullabies, tell him one last story before putting him to bed, then he will become too big for it. He will kiss you before going to school, he will throw one last time his arms around your neck, then he will study in another country, far from you. But the hard part is that a mother does not see that the time passes until there are no more next time.
It takes time to get there, to accept that her child is now flying on her own. So while you still have the chance to live these moments, remember that they are only ephemeral and that one day you will give everything to relive them. This is a letter that every mother should read when she can no longer juggle between the responsibilities. Being a mother is the most difficult "job" in the world, but it is also the most beautiful experience of which the memories are indelible.
“All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” ― ABRAHAM LINCOLN ―