Mother’s Day Dedication

I’m reading Mother’s Day titles and articles on my phone about mothers and parenting. I paraphrase, from “hilarious parenting,” to “trying to raise successful kids — but stop it.”

My mom was a hands-on, light-hearted, and instructive mom. She provided boundaries. Because I experienced those first hand it allowed me later, when my husband Lynn and I became foster parents to a sixteen-year-old, to give our daughter structured limits. Even though she fought them for a while, she discovered they were convenient. She could tell her friends what Lynn and I expected of her, like what time she had to come home.

I get to celebrate Mother’s Day with my ninety-one-year-old mother who still lives in the house she and my dad built and moved into the month before I was born. In my coming-of-age travel memoir, At Home in the World: Travel Stories of Growing Up and Growing Away, I dedicated the book to my mom. It still seems appropriate here and now today.

I dedicate this book (and my own parenting)

to my mother, Gaye Wiley,

wise beyond her own experience,

who trusted me, the process of growing up,

and Jesus Christ our Lord;

and as a result, then launched me into the world

to become fearless and independent,

self-assured and resilient,

and at home in the world.

Mother, I thank you from the depths of my heart.

Whatever your bond was with your mom, what good thing(s) did she give you? Some people have a complicated relationship, others have an estranged or have no connection with their mothers for different reasons. Maybe your mom died before you knew her. Hopefully you had someone who played an important parenting role in your life. Who was that? And what did they contribute to your life? I’d like to know.