Mother's Day
I am conflicted as I begin our Mothers Day campaign.
I just don’t want to be another business shouting at customers to buy larger and more expensive gifts because it is another opportunity to make sales. Or to infer that if you don’t have a large budget that you don’t love your Mum enough!
Marketing can be conflicting!
I also, do not underestimate, that for some people Mother’s Day might be bittersweet or indeed downright difficult. For those of you, I apologise in advance for the marketing campaign, which will be in your face for the next fortnight.
I have started this blog with a photo of my family as it is now. It’s a wedding photo taken four years ago and shows my wonderful husband Colin (my partner in crime and the other half of Mudgee Monkey), my Mother and our Children.
Families change shape, roles change and the concept of motherhood has been very different depending on which decade of my life I examine.
My childhood was spent as an “army gyspy” and family were the people who lived wherever we did.
In my twenties I was riding the fertility roller coaster and I remember thinking that mother’s day was best spent under the doona.
In my thirties when I became a mother I remember how wonderful but how constant parenting was. I thought about defacing all those Mother’s Day posters that showed very groomed,content women. Don’t get me wrong; I was contented, if not just a bit tired.
In my Forties Mother’s day bought sadness as I stood my dear friend and mother in law who fought stupid breast cancer and lost.
When I was fifty a sudden accident took the life of my husband James and meant that mothering changed dramatically for me, my children, and my mother. The mothering role was shared on five-minute clock, with all of us taking turns.
During this decade I meet my future husband Colin and was surprised to realise that I could love and be loved by two remarkable men in one lifetime. Of course mothering took a whole new shape with stepchildren. I now have a son as well as an extra daughter!
As I start my sixth decade I look forward to how mothering will change again. I am welcoming children’s partners and looking forward to meeting grandchildren one day. (No pressure here kids!)
I wish you a peaceful mother’s day no mater which decade you are in or what shape your family looks like. If you feel like staying under the doona or deleting advertising, just do it. If you feel like posting millions of photos of your grandchildren or Mum on face book, I look forward to seeing them.
If you would like to say thank you to a Mum of your choice with a wondrous bouquet of flowers, then I am your girl!
Cheers Dianne
