As adults, we only really appreciate much of what our mothers used to do. Something that some of our children may not learn until later, when they have long since left the parental home.
It can be things that we took for granted as children, like our own birthday party – or situations that we didn’t find ourselves in until much later in life, like our own pregnancy or those first moments as a parent. Moments that we experience ourselves and discover with them how much love and devotion our mothers must have brought through this time and what they took on for us.
We’ve collected seven stories from women editors sharing what they’re grateful for in their moms today. Now that they understand it better than they did when they were children and young people.
New generation with old tradition
“I’ve been spending my holidays at a campsite on the Baltic Sea since I was six. I don’t even know how many weekends we were there with the family. But there must have been well over 1000 rolls that I bought and put on the handed out space to the campers to get some extra pocket money. We loved it all when we were kids, but by the time I was 15 it wasn’t so cool having to spend the weekends away from my girlfriends. I remember a lot of whining and whining when before heading to the Bay of Lübeck on Friday afternoon in Dad’s station wagon.
I’ve been a mother myself for five years and for four weeks I’ve been the proud owner of a caravan on the most beautiful campsite in the world. Now my daughter is making memories here and I can’t say it enough, ‘Thank you mom! For a childhood on the beach and the cuddliest caravan proudly built in 1978!'”
Pregnancy can not only be beautiful
“I couldn’t imagine what morning sickness really meant until I got pregnant myself. 24/7 a stomach flu-like state – and not for a short time, but for months! Now I appreciate even more what my mother did for me has taken on. Thank you mom for your perseverance!”
A lot of work – with a smile
“My mother always organized incredibly loving birthday parties for my sister and me. As a child on Mardi Gras, I always got donuts as a birthday cake – baked it myself in the middle of the night, it was supposed to be a surprise. I woke up in the morning from this scent, and Donuts are still part of my birthday today.When I was a child, there was of course always a carnival party in the afternoon – with all the friends I wanted to invite, with garlands and costumes and confetti, games and prizes – with a motto too, and of course that was also possible my mother always dressed up. And all this compressed into a 65 square meter apartment. My sister’s birthday was always in the summer holidays and my mother really carried everything that belonged to her (and us): candles, cake, presents – it didn’t matter to the campsite in Yugoslavia or to the Dutch North Sea Packed in a Beetle And I NEVER had that impression that children’s birthdays were stressful for them.
Today, with three children of my own and a corresponding number of children’s birthday parties, I really appreciate what she has done and taken upon herself to give us children a nice day. I still like to remember the beautiful birthday parties. Thank you Mama.”
Love has many different sides
“Whenever I got upset that my little brother was getting away with something, my mom would say, ‘I have to treat each of you as you need to.’ I used to not understand what she meant by that, I just felt it was unfair.
Today I understand. My brother and I are completely different. I was always goal-oriented, did my homework because I liked it, studied because I loved it – and I took my life into my own hands early on. My mother was like a net, she would have caught me at any time. I always had her strength, calmness and love by my side, but in a quiet way. She always had to catch my brother and put him on his feet. She would have done the exact same thing to me if it had been necessary. I now know that unequal treatment has nothing to do with unequal love, but with the fact that my mother knew exactly what she could and couldn’t trust us to do.”
The effort you never saw in her
“When I was born, my mother not only had to take care of me, she also had to take care of her mother – and for quite a long time. My father was often away for work and she was sometimes alone at home. Today I know the love and affection that she in had to share this valuable (postpartum) time enormously.
In addition, there are all the special holiday moments that my parents made possible for me and thus an eventful childhood on the beach. Thank you mom and thank you dad!”
That she was so strong for us
“Immediately after my birth, my mother had to have an emergency operation because the placenta had grown to the uterus. A situation that can lead to severe bleeding and infection. For a long time, I had no idea what my mother had to put up with and how she was so close. I’m so grateful that she got through it all and yet, as she puts it, ‘would do it again and again.'”
Birth and postpartum are not like in the movies
“I wasn’t aware before that birth wasn’t just over. It wasn’t until I grew up that I heard about things like after-pains and (more or less heavy) bleeding after birth. The so-called weekly flow can last up to six weeks and giving birth can be not only beautiful, but also very difficult. As a child, I didn’t realize all of this. What our mums sometimes went through. When I later realized this at some point, I contacted him directly via voice message thanked my mum. Her answer: ‘Once the child is born, everything else is a bit of a wumpe! And I was happy to do that for you two pretty children.’ Thanks anyway.”