Things I Love About Moms I Know

I love this thread on DC Urban Moms and Dads. My contribution's below - add your own in the comments (consider it an early Mother's Day homework assignment if you like, only you get to appreciate every mother under the sun, not just yours! no limits!)

Things I love about moms I know:

I love the stay at home mom with 3 kids under the age of 5 whose little boy peed right out the leg of his shorts in the feed store who did not even get one iota of upset with her boy or even try to clean it up, just moved right along patting his head. I love laid back parenting.

I love the mom with a little girl who had unexplained seizures for days when she was one that only showed up like a little frozen blip in her expression. This was a working mom who asked her nanny if she saw them (she didn't) and then pressed on even though everyone she talked to thought she was imagining things. When the doc confirmed it -- when he gave her the meds-- he said how astonished he was that she picked it up, that most kids weren't diagnosed until age 7 or 8 when they can articulate themselves better. I love moms who are so in tune with their kids and don't doubt their hunches.

I love the mom who called her own mom, sobbing, from the ambulance when her kid was on the way to the ER because his bronchitis made his lungs collapse and her tiny one year old baby was in danger. I love moms who need and love their moms *and* their babies. Also stories that turn out well (the baby is fine).

I love the mom who's agonizing about whether or not her child is struggling with a physical/developmental barrier to writing, who's not sure whether she should push her kindergartner or even do anything about it because she believes so wholeheartedly in play and social/emotional growth but also is competitive and the other kids are writing! writing words! why isn't my kid writing stories! and yet she has the most amazing imagination! I love moms who are smart and empathic and love their kids and realize the part our adult egos play in parenting.

I love the mom who's raised her one child solo and vents to me about how her daughter argues with her constantly or worse, ignores her and doesn't visit or call (I am the one with daughter's remorse, trying to explain the madness of being an evil, unappreciative child) and still does things like quietly take a second job just as she could retire ("just for 8 more years") so she can send her daughter to graduate school, or help her buy a house. I love moms who sacrifice uncomplainingly and continue to love their kids even when their children are ingrates (thanks, mom!).

I love the mom who talked me into sharing her community garden with her even though I fought tooth and nail telling her I didn't have time, the mom who calmly got me down there with my 2 kids in the dirt and sat back, smiling, as we all got to plant lettuce seeds and muck about. Who cares if we grow anything? I love moms who reach out and connect with other moms in the fog of parenting.

I love the moms in my neighborhood I barely knew who brought me meals and hand-me-downs when I had my first child.

I love the dad who lives by the dog park who, when we walked by with our newborn (mind you we'd walked by 5,000 times with our dog before this) in the bjorn, RAN out of his house, yelling, "Congratulations! I'm Sam's dad!" like he was welcoming me to the friendliest subculture on Earth, which he of course was: kind parents.



Photo courtesy of Garrison Photography/sxc.