There isn’t another place on earth like the heart of a mother.  It is a place of immeasurable love and unlimited forgiveness.  Her heart is a storehouse of memories .  You can safely store your secrets there too ,without the slightest fear of betrayal.  The heart of a mother, is the first miracle we encounter in our life on this earth.

I have been blessed all of my life to have a constant dose of women, who were on a mission to make sure that I was loved like the first child ever known. It has made all the difference in my life.  Besides having my mother, I had a great-grandmother and great aunts- as well as grandmothers and aunts to help me grow up properly.  Mama had learned from them the way of motherhood, and she learned it well. Those women were like a book of life when combined.  I am quite sure, that as a unit, they knew mostly everything.  They had seen it all and there was “nothing new under the sun” to them-when it came to raising children.   

My mother was so young when I was born and I was her first child.  People had hardly started writing ” manuals” on raising children at that time.  She loved me instinctively  because her heart knew how.  As much as I love books, some things are not in them and a mother’s heart is one of them. 

The women in my family all came bearing gifts, like good fairies-each unique and equally important, when I was a child.  They were a generous lot and gave as naturally as they breathed. Character was of utmost importance. A little southern girl had to be well-mannered too. They taught me work ethics, generosity and gratitude. I learned compassion and how to practice it.  Wastefulness was to be avoided and cleanliness was to be embraced. It may seem old-fashioned, but they weren’t wrong.  Some things do not change, but instead are worthy through out a lifetime. They took their duty seriously-I was that precious to them.

My mother did all of that-and took me on picnics too – and I mean real picnics with a basket full of everything and a pretty cloth to sit on.  She talked to me about things as they came up and that wasn’t on anyone else’s agenda. I told her  my secrets without fear. I told her “my truth” and she listened.  On top of all that, she explained “the world” to me-while we were cutting paper dolls out, picking strawberries or hanging clothes on a line.  A mother’s heart is always open for her children, no matter what else is going on in her world.

When I had my first child, it seemed like a light came on. I realized how much I had been loved and it was about overwhelming.  Something changed inside of me that I had nothing to do with-and it was beautiful.  I loved my own mama even more in just that moment.

Now, my own daughter is a mother.  I see her with all of her countless details in a day-her world is in that little daughter.  Her mission is to raise her well and she thinks long and hard about how to accomplish that.  The conditions sure have changed in the last fifty years, but the mission has not altered a bit. The heart of mothers is  a dependable   force.

If you had a good mother, you were born with a “silver spoon in your mouth” and nothing less.  The wealth of a mama ‘s love is endless.  It shows up her entire life and takes different forms, depending on the needs of her children. Children grow up and with them goes a lot of “busy”‘-mamas get still, so everyone else can move.    `A mama will not leave you stranded when she “goes home” either .  She leaves her story, a tale of love as constant as the North Star and every bit as bright.