A Macaroni Necklace of Thanks to all who Mother
“Pretend this is a macaroni necklace that I made for you out of glue and yarn. I think that’s what you’re supposed to give a woman who loves and nurtures and shows up…and that’s exactly what you do for me.”
Mother’s day is laced with all the feels, the good and the bad, the happy and the sad, the all in and left out. As a people pleaser, I want to hold the hand of all of the people in all of the seasons of life and let them know I care. I have not the time or mental space to do this. But I do have words. Words are always at the waiting.
I came across this post with examples of such words you might use to let all those beautiful people in your life, those who nurture and care and love on you, let them know how you feel. A mother was always just my very own mother. But now, as one, I can see a mother is not just the woman who I first called mom. This mother deserves all my love and attention, but so do all the others who love and nurture and care for me. On this day of honoring those who "mother," I offer my gift of gratitude, the macaroni necklace of thanks, through my words:
Thank you for that dinner you brought me, the casserole, the salad, the cookies, even the paper plates so I wouldn’t have to do dishes. We needed that. It was so good. For our bellies and for our minds and for our hearts.
Thank you for that group text conversation in the middle of the day for no reason other than to share about the guy on the train that led to a conversation about nothing at all. I laughed. So hard. For the first time that day. You thought of me. You know I don’t have time to pick up the phone, or respond to an email or meet up for coffee in four different states. So you texted and it made my whole day.
Thank you for traveling to me to be here with our family. This state is big and the road is boring. But you know that connecting in person is important too. You know that your presence in our home to hold my babies and eat my food and let me welcome you in the way that I can’t long distance is good for my soul.
Thank you for the card you wrote that was created or purchased, the note that was eloquently worded or just a simple I love you, the care package that greeted us at the door with the giddy joy and anticipation of a surprise. That is an art I just don’t practice enough but you taught me it can mean so much.
Thank you for the nod and knowing smile you sent my way across the pew in church where we both spent the hour shushing and wrangling and retrieving and praying for the closing hymn. You get that it’s hard. And you are happy that we are just here. Showing up. For our children and for each other and for God.
Thank you for washing the dishes and reading the books and wiping the bottoms and taking the walks so I could be alone, with my thoughts, with my craft, with my dreams.
Thank you for writing that article that touched me to my very core, that inspired the art, that made me laugh, that got me to think. I have never met you and never will but your gift of words set my soul on fire.
Thank you for reading my words, liking and sharing and commenting on the work. This craft is for me, it truly is, but without an audience I might not push on, I might not ever know that my voice is important. I might not get to connect across this wide world with people who are living the lives and feeling the feels and thinking the thoughts that I am each day. It’s inspiring and motivating and grounding.
This macaroni necklace or puffy paint tea towel or handprint acrostic poem or clay ash tray or whatever it is that was made with love and admiration and craft supplies, this is my gift to you for being there and showing up, for nurturing and caring, for thinking and loving. For all the little ways you have mothered me, I say thank you to you today, on this day of honoring those who do all this, the mothers and the “mothers.”