It takes a village…

Mother’s Day, the advertisements, the sweet sentiments…always bother me. Every year the day rolls around I am reminded of the sadness that came with it when I was a child, my parents having divorced by the time I was two and then my dad getting custody of me. My cousins had both their parents, together – normal. Now, as an adult, I still kind of loathe the day because it’s tinged with those memories and those feelings, but the difference now is that I am an adult and someone’s Mama myself and that has made everything worth it to me.

The reason for my story is:

It was 2002 and my mother’s funeral, it was about to start, and the people were gathering. From a distance, across the cemetery I heard several car doors shutting one after another…I looked up and saw them, all my aunts – all my dad’s sisters and sister in laws! I’m not talking like a normal number of aunts; I’m talking all 11. I know it wasn’t all of them, but it was a lot of them and in my mind, it will always be all, the ones that had gone on before were represented by the ones who were in attendance and that vision filled my heart right up. My breath was taken away- literally, I remember the sharp intake of air that froze in my throat.

I will never forget that moment.

To me they had always been sort of famous, always classy, top notch, beautiful, strong women! That feeling, that energy, that support that I needed so much came to me and it was then that I realized; it does indeed take a village to raise a child. They were that village, and I was that child. They’d been there from the beginning, same as my sweet grandmother who let me move in before my dad remarried.

So today I wanted to take the long way around in sharing my thoughts and to wish you all a Happy Mother’s Day. Thank you for being my extra Moms and thank you for supporting me when I needed it the most.

Special thanks also to my stepmom for taking me in- I know it wasn’t easy raising someone else’s daughter…