"Mommy"

Motherhood is an enigma of the highest sort.  Biologically it makes sense that we should need to promote and preserve the species, but motherhood goes way beyond that.

One species of mother will die to protect another that she has claimed as her child.

However a child comes to me, once it is mine, there is a symbiotic relationship that goes beyond the physical into the mystical.

Growing up I loved my mother.  No matter how much we clashed I needed her and when I was grown up I thought I knew love, through her, through my father, my siblings, my husband, my friends. Then I met my children and each one filled me with so much more love that I was astounded.  The depth, the concentration, the extraordinary relationship is indescribable.

It is not a bottomless pit of giving.  It is more like a transfiguration.  Each child bonds with me, feeding me, nurturing me so that I become a better human being.  I want to be whatever I need to be, do whatever I need to do. I even know I can live without the child if it is in his or her best interests.  It is as close to selflessness as I will ever be.

I am far from perfect, but I am so much better than I would have been if I no one had ever called me, "mommy."