A Real Mother

My annual protest the second Sunday in May began the day after my wedding when some unknowing person wished me “Happy Mother’s Day.” Someday, I thought, but thankfully not today. Every year since then, I’ve dodged questions and declined the single long-stem rose handed to mothers during Sunday worship service. I’ve shunned the long lines at restaurants for a quick lunch at home. If I skipped church, my friends asked “What’s wrong?”

“I’m not a real mother,” I replied. “I’ve never birthed a child.”

A Chicken Soup for the Soul call for devotional stories made me reconsider my motherhood role.  Five years of foster parenting when I was old enough to be a grandmother plus seven years as a devotional writer signaled the right combination to submit to the contest.  The result, “A Real Mother,” was published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Devotional Stories for Mothers (Simon & Schuster, 2010).  Click here to read it in Chicken Soup online newsletter.

To all real mothers, Happy Mother’s Day.

©Copyright Violet Carr Moore 2010