Twenty years a mom

Today, my oldest son turned 20.

And I turned into a 20 year old veteran mother.

If I close my eyes I can still see the delivery room... I can still hear his first cackling cry. Could it really be twenty years ago?

Today I went to my adoration hour -- a normal part of my Friday schedule. And I thanked God for my boy. Who is now a man.

I am finally figuring out that a mother never really knows how well she has done her job until years later... and it's usually after she has made A LOT of mistakes in getting there.

So, that's where I am. Just really grateful that the woman whose peers might have voted "least likely to be a mother" actually did become one (three times, in fact) and is still "becoming."

And that, even at my age, it's important to continue to learn to love someone for just who they are and not for any other reason. And to be willing to let go--realizing that, at 20 years old, a son who lives away at college most of the year may be no longer within my sphere of influence, but never beyond the reach of my love and my prayers.


Copyright 2007 Patricia W. Gohn