What is a mother
A mother is love
A mother is tears
Happy , sad, scared tears, tears for the unknown.
A mother is worry for their health, kindness, calm. joy, hope and faith.
A mother is not caring so much about how I look but how I react, not caring so much about how clean everything is as long as we had fun making the mess.
A mother is wanting to always keep a child safe while not sheltering them from the real world, wanting them to learn on their own accord at their own pace.
A mother is not always blood
A mother is wanting them to laugh, not the cause of their cries.
A mother is taking a moment to breath, when you want to scream.
A mother is letting go of your trauma to make good memories for your child.
A mother is not afraid of saying no or being hurt when they get mad for saying no.
A mother is security
A mother is offering a hug before an interrogation.
A mother is pain
A mother is safety
A mother is you being there for a child no matter how far they stray
A mother is letting them go though you want them to stay
Written (2010) while watching my own kids grow, Edited (2020) for the things we both have learned along the way.
*Dedicated to the memory of George Floyd, a black man who screamed for his mother while being suffocated to death at the hands of a white police officer.
*Palestinian-American artist Shirien Damra’s illustration paying tribute to George Floyd.
Thanks for reading
Sheri