It’s a Mother of a Day

This week some of our patients have had some good news about their pregnancies and this Mother’s Day may be like no other. For them, this will be a joyful occasion, a day many of them never expected to have.

However, some of our patients and friends have had crushing news and are not yet pregnant, or are grappling with the possibility of never having a child. I know of others who have recently lost a child or a parent. I can’t imagine the sorrow a day like Mother’s Day may bring for them.

I can count my blessings for now, as both my wife and I still have our parents and we have our children. We can still celebrate this day with all the people who have been a part of our lives.

It is my hope and my prayer for all of those who are suffering a loss…either loss of what never or has not come to pass, or the loss of a parent or a child…can find a path to peace.

I well remember those Mother’s Days, waking next to my wife, when we were childless. It is a certainty that I felt sadness and fear. But I can tell you this: the sadness I felt was shared. It seems strange to say, but sharing a burrowing sadness was somehow comforting to me. The fact that I shared it with the person whom I loved more than any other person on the planet somehow made the sorrow not only bearable, but good.

My wife and I shared a sorrow. It was a sorrow wrapped, enveloped in a deep love…which in the end felt like a form of gratitude.

So this weekend, this is my wish for all of us, in case anyone has forgotten…. May you all have peace in your hearts and be grateful for your shared sorrow, cherish the ones you love, whether they are here or not. Cherish the Mother you were, the Father you were, or the one you could have been.

If you have lost a child or a parent, honor them by living a life which pays tribute to them.

It’s the rarest elements in nature that are valued so dearly. The time we have together here on earth is so small, so fragile and so very precious. We never know exactly what we will be given, or how long we will have it. I think we should all be thankful for what we have been given, no matter how briefly. If we have been given less, or have suffered loss…it is my hope that we can all appreciate even the small gifts as what they are….precious and rare.

This world contains enough sorrow that no one will ever go wanting for it. May we all recognize joy, too, and let it overflow from us and into others around us. If you know someone who is in the depth of sorrow and can’t find a way out, may you help to bring them peace.