"Mother" has always been a generic term synonymous with love, devotion and sacrifice. There's always been something mystical and reverent about them. They're the cross of Julie Andrews and Mary Poppins of the human race...infallible, virtuous, without flaws and conceived without original sin, with no room for ambivalence.
Immediately following birth, every new mother drags from her bed and awkwardly pulls herself up on the pedestal provided for her.
Some adjust easily to the saintly image. They come to love the adulation and bask in the flocks that come to pay homage at their feet on Mother's Day.
Some abandon their new found responsibility, leaving it to those more prepared.
But most mothers just try to figure out what they're supposed to do-and most of us are the fine results of their best intentions.
Motherhood is the second oldest profession in the world. It never questions age, religious preference, health, political affiliation, citizenship, morality, ethnic background, marital status, economical level, or previous experience.
It's the biggest-on-the-job training program in existence today.
Motherhood is not a one-size-fit-all, a mold that is all-encompassing and means the same thing to all people.
Some mothers give standing ovations to bowel movements. Other mothers reserve their excitement for an affair.
Some mothers have so much guilt, they cannot eat a breath mint without sharing it. Other mothers feel nothing when they tell a kid his entire pillowcase of candy got ants in it...and eats it herself.
Some mothers cry when their thirty-year-old daughters leave home and move to their apartments. Other mothers sell their twelve-year-old son's bed when he goes to a long scout’s camp.
There is a little bit of all of them in our mothers. We have heard and known many of them among our friends.
They are our mothers, not the nameless, faceless stereotypes who appear once a year on a greeting card with their virtues set to prose, but women who have been dealt a hand for life and play each card one at a time the best way they know how. No mother is all good or all bad, all laughing or all serious, all loving or all angry. Ambivalence runs through their veins.
Meanwhile, we’ll love to hear from you about your mother. At the meantime, we will reminiscence on ours and will share with you in the weeks to follow.
If your story touches us, we’ll feature your story in our website and your mother will receive a bouquet of flowers on Mother’s day, compliments of Pods & Petals Giftlab.
Warmest Regards,
Jason
Pods & Petals Giftlab
03-7960 7327
www.gift-lab.com
Reply email: jason@malaysiaflower.com
P.S.
A Bouquet of Flowers will be given away on Mother’s Day each to the 3 most touching stories.
A RM10 PPG Voucher will be given for the remaining members who have taken the time to share with us on their mothers.
The closing date for the story submission is 29th April 2005.
Applicable for delivery within Klang Valley only.
