Was your mother a superhero?

We grow up getting clues as to who we should be from significant others and multimedia images and stories. We begin in a once upon a time and happily ever after world. Somewhere between the ages of three and ten we seem to be drawn to the land of superheroes.

Did you know that 37% of children ages three to ten when asked what they want to be when they grow up say superheroes?

Although I loved to see her twirl into her superpowers, my first superhero was not Wonder Woman. My first superhero was my mother. Mother raised me the first four years of my life by herself … or so I thought. Daddy was off at war and then in the veterans hospital getting well from war injuries.

Mother provided all my needs. She taught me survival skills like walking and talking. She was the band-aid to my every hurt. She was beautiful. She was my queen and I was her princess. She taught me to read by reading to me every day.The day I woke up to find the hand puppet she had made on my pillow, Mother became my Queen of Magic. In the winter when it snowed she went downstairs in our public housing development and collected fresh white snow in a basin. After she brought it back up, she made me a snowman to live outside on the windowsill next to my bed. She went to school at night to get her teaching certification so we could have a better life. Daily as we talked to Daddy’s photograph, Mother reminded me that I was a part of something more. She set boundaries that protected me from the world. She promised me a life filled with God’s grace.

 As a mature woman, I often wonder how did she do that?

I don’t know who played the role of the mother in your life; your birth mother, grandmother, aunt, stepmother, older sister, or close friend. I am sure there was, at least, one woman who helped you get from stop to go and more.

Today, I lovingly remember and celebrate my first and always superhero, Mother.

Who will you wish Happy Mother’s Day?

Share your memories.

    Until next time, remember,

• You are not alone.

• You are not your circumstances.

• You have everything within you to live a purpose-filled life.