Random Thoughts on Mother's Day

For Mother's Day, a collection of random thoughts, most of which I've posted before, in one form or another. . .

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I have always been in awe of women, for several reasons, probably foremost among them the capacity of their bodies to nurture within themselves a complete, distinct PERSON, and to feed and sustain that person from their own resources after its birth.  When I think about that, it seems to me that it touches on the holy. . .

I've also said to Jen many times that reproducing ourselves together is simply the coolest, most amazing thing we've ever done. I'll beg your indulgence if I say, just one more time, that I am still blown away to look at my kids, and realize that each one of them is made of US - literally, they are made of Jen-stuff and me-stuff. Stevie Wonder's song, 'Isn't She Lovely?' has always resonated with me - "Isn't she lovely, made from love?" There is a line of 'Trinitarian' theology that speaks of the Holy Spirit as the Love between the Father and the Son - that the Love between the first two persons of the Holy Trinity is so concrete, so intense, so REAL, that it is a whole 'nother person in itself. And, in the spirit of the late pope's Theology of the Body, I wonder if that isn't yet another sense in which we are made in the Image of God - that the love between a husband and wife - heck, between Jen and me - can issue forth (and in fact, has) in another person (or, you know, eight of them).  Awesome. . .

I also recall, in the aftermath of my reunion with my birth-mother, a growing appreciation of Motherhood, and what it means - that what I'd seen of our kids growing in Jen's belly, and felt of them kicking her from inside herself, was also true of me and this very woman; I had never related to Motherhood in quite such a REAL way before, at least as pertaining to myself.  It was a mild disappointment to me, after our reunion, that she had no photos of her pregnant self from 'back in the day'.  Completely understandable, of course - she (and her family probably all the moreso) was in no mood to capture the experience for posterity - but it would have given me an odd comfort to see a picture of her bulging belly, knowing that I was inside. . .  Anyway, it was simply amazing to me to realize that she, at last, was the woman who, at whatever cost to herself, had given birth to me - at the most basic, earthy level (and you know how I love the earthiness), she was the woman between whose legs I entered the world. . .

And as much as I love Jen for the wonderful, amazing woman that she is, and the love that has grown between us over 30+ years of marriage, it is made all the richer for me to understand what it means that she is the Mother of My Children - I wouldn't be a father if she weren't a mother; and being a father is about the biggest and best and noblest thing I've ever done. . .

So, Happy Mother's Day to my Beloved Wife, Jen - the Mother of My Children, and the Love of My Life. . .

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And Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers among my blog-friends - I honor you for your sacrifice, for your love for your own children, and for the (how shall I say it?) intrinsic wonderfulness of your femininity. . .

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A friend sent me this (which is more-or-less a sequel to this), which I'm happy (even eager) to share with you all. . .