We often hear that a mother’s job is never done. We also hear undermining thoughts and opinions on motherhood, stay-at-home moms, women who give up their lives to even hope to better their children’s. Their title then often gets reduced to menial tasks: cooking, cleaning, laundry, dropping off my cleats during 6th period so I have them for practice. A mother’s job is never done because the duties are endless: groceries, packing lunches, washing dishes, carpool, changing diapers, kissing bruises, helping with homework, pretty much being available to drop EVERYTHING they're doing in a moment to assist the needs of their so-needy, but oh-so-noble, children.
No. A mother’s job is never done because a mother can never accept her job as done.
Moms never think they’re enough. They feel constant shortcomings and little failures — they forget to sign permission slips, to put my uniform in the dryer since I need it in two hours, they pick you up 15 minutes late. And these failures, these shortcomings, my, do they SCREW OUR DAYS UP! How could my mother forget to dry my uniform!? She had ONE JOB!!! What else does she do that could possibly distract her from this task!?
Everything. The answer is everything.
Mothers worry. But they only worry about everything under the sun. They constantly worry about us, our well-being, our happiness, if we get enough sleep, if we’re eating enough, if we’re hanging out with the right people. Their innate job is to worry. And THEN you throw in the real external problems our world brings us: money problems, family problems, drinking, drugs, violence, depression, unhappiness, anxiety. Then THESE son-of-a-bitch problems come into play, and what does a mother do? She worries for us. She does not worry for herself because she is the keystone. She is the middle of the pyramid, the figure that holds everyone and everything together, the literal glue of a masterpiece. If she wavers, even the slightest, we could all collapse. THAT is a job that never ends.
Mommies get the brunt of all things. Our moms try their absolute hardest, give their efforts with everything in their hearts and minds, yet they receive the short end of the stick, ALWAYS. When a problem occurs in a family, everyone may share a difficult piece, but the mother holds the sharpest piece. Because a mother is constantly thinking, “What did I do to cause this, what could I have done differently to avoid this, how can I solve this?” Everything falls on our mothers. When I was going through the longest and hardest days of my life, as we all have them, I slept next to my mother. I panicked when she left the room. She picked me up, she was a constant (and I mean every minute of the day) source of hope and comfort. My mom fought for me, fought for me so hard when I lost the ability to fight for myself.
My mom is the strongest person I know. She has gone through things in her lifetime I will never understand or comprehend. She’s a survivor of many means, of sickness through cancer and sickness through addiction. She had a childhood that could not compare to the privileges I’ve had, yet she emerges as the strongest and most beautiful woman I have ever known. But that’s not what makes my mother strong. What makes my mother strong is her relentlessness. Her ability to wake up every day and deal with each problem, each day as it comes (problems are inevitable with three children) is what determines her strength. When my parents separated, my mom hit the workforce after 10 years away. Her first interview, she out-interviewed 14 people. We did not move out of our big house just because my dad was gone, our lifestyle didn’t change in the slightest, because my mom worked and fought every day to give us everything she thought we deserved. I realize now the only thing I deserve and want is her.
Do our mothers annoy us, yes. Do they embarrass us in public, yes. Do they ask endless questions, yes. But our mothers have earned this title. They have formed us since birth (and before) into the people we are — they have the right to be nosy, be embarassing, be real. Because a mother’s job is one of the realest in the word. You go to college for four years, studying a major that will hopefully get you a job. You prepare and prepare for this job and learn as much as you can to be ready when entering the real world. There is no course, no college credit on how to be a mom. Our moms are thrown into this title, they have nine painful long months to prepare for their lives to change. And I must say, they do a damn good job. My mom is my best friend, and I am sorry if you do not have a mother. I am sorry the world is unfair and took away this beautiful gift from you. But all I can tell you is this — be a mother. Be a mother to someone who needs it, become your own mother that makes up for the lack thereof. Some girls have mothers, but mothers so lacking they might as well not have one at all. For them, be a mother. Because a mother is something every girl needs - and one day, when we’re all mothers, we will understand this. Love your mom and take care of her best you can. It is only half of what we can do to repay our beautiful mommies.
