From the Associate Rector - May Manifest 2022

I’ve always been aware of such feelings around Father’s Day - having lost my dad as a young child, I HATED Father’s Day. As my mom has aged, Mother’s Day also takes on a more poignant sentiment. As my brother and sister-in-law had their first child this year, it also takes on a new happy, celebratory feeling for me as we celebrate her first Mother’s Day. Feelings can be complicated, right?

I am glad to see that many are more aware of this sensitivity. I was glad to receive an email from Etsy back in late March giving the opportunity to opt-out of Mother’s Day emails. And, we have so many wonderful and amazing moms and grandmas of all types and stripes in our parish. So please know that I give thanks to God for each of you! And for all of you who have lost a mom by death or separation, you are all in my prayers. For those who don’t consider themselves women but who mother, you are in my prayers. For those of you who always wanted to be a mother but couldn’t, you are also in my prayers.

Here is a portion of an email I received from the CEO of Give InKind, Laura Malcolm. She says it all better than I ever could:

“Motherhood is, well, complicated. I didn't grasp how complicated it was until I first became a mom-with-a-label – a loss mom. Now that I have two young boys at home, I think a lot about the other moms with labels. Single moms and stepmoms and LGBTQ+ moms and grandmothers stepping in as moms and incarcerated moms and all the moms fighting for their children's rights to live in a world that is healthy and safe. I think about the fact that the US ranks 57th in maternal mortality rates, and that Black moms are three times more likely to die from childbirth than Caucasian moms. I think about the moms who leave their days old babies to go back to work because we have no universal family leave and the moms who can't access postpartum mental health support. I think about those who wanted so badly to become a mom but couldn't. I think about those that have had to make the most difficult of choices."

Amen, and amen.

Faithfully,

Elise