~Art Urban
That is so true! It is also true that when a woman gives birth, she becomes a mother forever.
It’s certainly not something I thought about when I gave birth to my first daughter. She was beautiful, and I felt such an infusion of love immediately. I knew that I would love this child, whom I had begun to love already in utero, but was not prepared for how profound that was.
I wondered how I would feel about my second daughter, but it was entirely the same. When my third daughter was born, my love for her was as deep as for her two sisters. It came to me then that, as a mother, my love would stretch to encompass all my children — it was automatic.
As my children grew up, the deep love I had experienced at their births continued and changed imperceptibly to accommodate their choices of lifestyle. Even when their choices challenged me, my feelings toward them did not waver.
When I was 47 years old, I became a grandmother.
I could never have imagined that I would love this child so completely. Such strong new emotions filled me as I accepted her right away — and felt the stretch of love and tenderness for this new family member, who would be in my heart forever.
Four more beautiful grandchildren followed, and I love each one unconditionally!
They are so individual, and each one is so fascinating in their own way.
When I phoned my parents to give them our exciting news, my mother asked me to keep them informed about Emily, their first great-grandchild.
That’s when the awareness hit me that once a mother, always a mother — even into the following generations.
This enormous concept became an actuality to me when Emily gave birth to her first child, a healthy little son named Aayden.
Me, a great-grandmother? What my mother had experienced when Emily was born, I now felt with our gorgeous little Aayden.
Observing my daughters raising their children was an interesting experience. Each had their own methods, often different from mine, and all of our five grandchildren are loving, energetic and mannerly, and I am so very proud of them all!
Now watching Emily with her little guy has brought home to me that the next generation has arrived, and now I am the matriarch of the family.
That fact does not make me feel old — instead I feel immensely proud of all of my descendants.
Erna de Burger-Fex is a writer and retired teacher.
Posted by Heather Green-Oliver
