Ode to Moms

Happy Mothers' Day!

"Making the decision to have a child - it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking outside your body."

- Elizabeth Stone

A big shout-out to all my fellow moms! Being a mother can be the hardest job in the world…

“When my kids become wild and unruly, I use a nice, safe playpen. When they're finished, I climb out.” - Erma Bombeck

...but also the most rewarding. I feel so lucky to be able to be a mom.

I want to give a big huge THANK YOU to my own mom! Ma, thanks for taking care of me when I was a high-needs baby, for holding and rocking and nursing me when I was fussy and shrieking for months on end – I now appreciate better just how much work that must have been. Thanks for raising me with creativity and insight and humor. Thanks for supporting me and my decisions in life even though I live in a country that would not be your first choice of residence for your child. Thank you for being smart and fun and imaginative and understanding and, as I put in my fourth-grade paper, “classy.” You are all that and more...I LOVE YOU.

And thanks for being an entertaining and loving grandmother. Chely says, “I love you, Bamba!”

Also on this day I want to remember Edwin’s mom, killed in the1982 massacre of Santa María Tzejá when Edwin was 6 years old. I wish I could have met you, Noy. In fact, today my mother is involved with the inauguration of a memorial church garden that will include, thanks to my mom's request, the names of Edwin's family members who were killed.

I also want to pay my respects to my mother-in-law, Edwin’s step-mother, who has gone through incredible hardship. During the bitter war that devastated Guatemala, she had to give birth while hiding from troops in the thick of the forest. She was by herself and had to cut the umbilical cord with a machete. But her horrendous experiences did not destroy her; if you meet her today, you’ll be struck by what a friendly, kind, open person she is. We love you, Xa’an!

And I also want to thank my own children, Graciela Lucille B’ixalja’ and the soon-to-be born baby. Thank you for blessing me with the amazing and rewarding experience of motherhood. I love both of you so much and will work hard to be the best mom I can.

"You don't really understand human nature unless you know why a child on a merry-go-round will wave at his parents every time around - and why his parents will always wave back." - William D. Tammeus