I want to add this portion of a book that is so good for us mothers and grandmothers. It's so encouraging to remember what God made us for and who we are in our vocation.
"The mother is the geographical center of her family, the body out of whom their diversity springs, the neighborhood in which that diversity begins ever so awkwardly to dance its way back to the true body which is the Mother of us all. Her role then is precisely to be there for them. Not necessarily over there, but just there - thereness itself, if you will; not necessarily in her place but place itself to them; not necessarily at home but home itself."
"Your body is the first thing any child of man ever wanted. therefore dispose yourself
to be loved, to be wanted, to be available. Be there for them with a vengeance. Be a gracious, bending woman. Incline your ear, your heart, your hands to them. Be found warm and comfortable, and disposed to affection. Be ready to be done by and to welcome their casual effusions with something better than preoccupation and indifference. It isn't a matter of how much time; only how much intensity."
to be loved, to be wanted, to be available. Be there for them with a vengeance. Be a gracious, bending woman. Incline your ear, your heart, your hands to them. Be found warm and comfortable, and disposed to affection. Be ready to be done by and to welcome their casual effusions with something better than preoccupation and indifference. It isn't a matter of how much time; only how much intensity."
"Children love fat mothers. They like them because although every mother is a diagram of place, a picture of home, a fat one is a clearer diagram, a greater sacrament.
She is more there. I can think of no better wish to the slender swans
of this present age than to propose them a toast:
May your husbands find you as slim as they like;
your children should always remember you were fat."
She is more there. I can think of no better wish to the slender swans
of this present age than to propose them a toast:
May your husbands find you as slim as they like;
your children should always remember you were fat."
It's from the book - Bed and Board by Robert Farrar Capon.