I was delighted to have been asked to contribute to Cyma Shapiro’s wonderful project Mothering in the Middle, and then last month she asked what my response was to the question,“Is Being a Mother the Most Defining Role a Woman Can Have?” She asked other writers, older parents all of them and the resulting piece is a great read.
I was also pleased as punch to be the first contribution featured…. this is what I wrote:
“For years I was on the outside looking in, watching friends juggling their time, wiping little noses and strapping small folk into car seats. I felt for them. sometimes, wondered if they felt they’d lost their sense of who they were – the marketing director, the linguistics expert, the party girl, the intrepid explorer, the physiotherapist. Some seemed to get low craving a previous existence, looking wistfully out over the tiny crockery piled high in the kitchen sink or chatting late at night about how they didn’t feel very “me” any more. Now, I’m part of the club, I’m one of them, only I feel that I’ve found the missing part of me, the piece that makes me truly ‘me.’
I’m a mother and I cherish, relish and grasp every moment. I want to shout it from the rooftops and leap for joy every time I hear the sound of little feet dashing down the corridor towards me. Every night time, “Mummy” warms my heart, whatever the time. I am me: Ellie, writer, researcher, marketer, Springsteen fan and most importantly and above all else, MOTHER. And it’s the absolute heart of who I am.”
Read the thought provoking collection of responses over on Mothering in the Middle.
Thanks to Cyma and hats off to all the women who contributed.
