This is my mom and me on her 70th Birthday trip to New York City with all (4) of her daughters. All of us have full-time careers in addition to being full-time mothers, so it was a very special occasion for each of us to take enough time away to celebrate Mom together on this trip. We, quite literally, ran all around the city, seeing all the sites, tasting all the food, and taking in all the very best The Big Apple has to offer in celebration of Mom’s 70 years of life. It was a wonderful trip.
Today, she turns 71.
As we take this day to celebrate the social and economic achievements of American workers and the contributions they’ve made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country, I can’t help but think, there’s not a better day to remember the women, like my mom, who labored behind the scenes. My mom did it ALL. Not only did she do all the cooking, cleaning, teaching, school project coordinating, taxi-driving, sponge-roller rolling, mullet-perming, costume-making, and every other thankless thing a mother does behind the scenes, she physically made our clothes! She loved to sew, so she would let us pick patterns and fabric at the store and then she’d spend hours at her sewing machine, making clothes that we were so proud to wear.
As we celebrate her today, I think it’s appropriate to celebrate the labor of all mothers.
I know mom’s get their own special day in May, but I wholeheartedly believe that we wouldn’t have much to celebrate today without all the mother’s who’ve poured into their families over all the years. I’m not even solely referring to mothers who “stayed at home”. Certainly, stay-at-home mothers like mine, have selflessly poured everything into raising their families. But as much as we’ve advanced the cause of equality in the workplace, any research will show you that the majority of mothers in the workforce are still shouldering the majority of the work on the homefront as well.
Without question, the labor of mothers over all the years has made it possible to celebrate the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country today.
Let’s remember that today, and celebrate the labor of our mothers.
Happy Birthday, Mom.
Here’s to YOU and all you did behind the scenes so we could grow up to be contributors to this country and the world.
to more love,
Crystal
