A good mother lost her fight to cancer in June. She was someone I had known most of my life. She and I had worked together. We happened to see (on TV) the 2nd plane fly into the Twin Tower on 9/11 together. She was always opening my eyes. She left an indelible mark on our hometown and is greatly mourned.
If there was one thing I know about her, she loved her children. She no doubt battled cancer everyday, for years, so she could have one more day with her kids. Of this I am sure. One more day...
Thinking about her made me think of my own "battles" and how they hardly compare. What are my battles? Trouble getting up in the morning, doing dishes, playing trucks when I don't feel like it, fighting lonliness or fretting about money. What are those battles compared to cancer!? Yet, all my battles take away the joy of mothering or make it more of a challenge or they are a distraction from focusing on the really important things -like being the best mom my children deserve.
I still find myself shaking my head and saying, "I can't believe she is gone." Yet, even in her death, she has opened my eyes again. Children are worth fighting our battles for. Hopefully, the vast majority of young mothers (me included) will not have to fight the battle she did. Potty training, picky eaters, waking up to nurse 2 times a night -still, loneliness these will be our hard battles but they will be worth fighting everyday to overcome so they won't affect us negatively. So we can keep on enjoying one more day with our children, offering them our best self.
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