Submit a Letter
Here is the good stuff. Mothers, post your letters in the comment section below, or email motherletter@gmail.com.
So many moms have confessed to not knowing where to start. Here are only a few suggestions:
- What is your story?
- Write about how a normal day looks.
- What are the things you struggle with most in motherhood?
- What do you not understand about mothers?
- What kind of mother would you like to be?
- What gets you through a day or the hard circumstances?
- How do you feel about your own mother?
For previous letters submitted via comment on the old site, click HERE. Please do not leave your comments there; that’s what this section is for.
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Dear Mother,
It’s going to be hard. Really hard. But it’s going to be the easiest thing you have ever done. To love your child unconditionally, to care for and nurture them.
You won’t know what to do sometimes, people will always be telling you what to do. Trust yourself. Trust the love you have for your child and let it guide you in your decisions.
There will be days when you might think “why did I do this?” “wouldn’t it have been easier to just live MY life?” And although you may not really mean it or think that way, the question may pop into your head at the craziest times…the answer will always be in your child’s smiling face, you will know exactly why you were given this gift.
Your heart will melt some random day while making chicken dumpling soup, or cleaning up another mess, when he says to you ‘mama, i’m glad you’re my mine.’ Your heart will break when your teenager looks at you with true loathing and questions your rules, decisions, your everything.
Be patient with yourself, your child, your spouse, your friends and family. Let yourself make mistakes. Let your children make mistakes. Understand. Try. Try harder. Never ever stop doing what you need to do, which is simply to be there for them.
You may not be ready, you may have been waiting forever to have this opportunity. You have no idea what you’re in for. It will be perfect. It will change you and everything you think…it might even save your life.
It’s the hardest thing you will ever do. Being the mother you need to be. But it is the most important thing you will ever do, and you can do it.
Dear Mother,
The moment I laid eyes on my little man I understood all you told me. You will never love someone as much as you love your own child. I never thought my heart could hold so much love and fall for someone so fast. As I watched the doctors work on him with all the tubes and bags, my heart was breaking. I never even got to touch him before he was whisked away. I saw him little feet sticking out of the blanket and they were the smallest feet I have ever seen.
I wasn’t ready for all the emotions that came that day. I don’t think anyone ever is though. The first time i got to hold him was amazing. I couldn’t stop crying. Looking at his perfect little face and the smile on his lips. It is amazing how tiny they are yet how strong at the same time. But you know what, I did it. I took him home and watched him sleep. Changed diapers until I was blue in the face. I called my mom so many times thinking that I had done something wrong when all it was was gas bubbles. I laid him on my chest to sleep so I could feel him breathe. I didn’t let him out of my site for months. I didn’t want him to ever feel as though I wasn’t there for him. He is 6 now and I am still the same way. I am there for everything and he knows he can count on me. Looking back at the sleepless nights and thousands of diapers, it was worth it. Every little thing was worth it.
Hold on to your baby. Kiss him every chance you can. They grow so fast and you don’t want to miss a moment. Listen to every giggle and coo. Kiss his little toes and fingers. One day he will be too big for that but not right now. This very moment, he is your baby and he needs you for everything. Give him everything you have. Love him with your whole heart.
Love you,
Crystal
Dear Mother,
You are gone and I love you. Thank you for teaching me how to continue to love you though you are no longer here. You knew that one day life would have to go on without you, and it was your job to instill as much of yourself in me as possible. You knew that over the years, my mind’s picture of you would be vellum-covered and fuzzy, and I would need a reminder of you. From the time I was knee- high, you compared our feet. Now, I look at mine and I see you. You are with me, very literally, with each step I take.
You knew too, how to make sure we made memories. Not posed, perfect ones, but amazing ones nevertheless. –The “sick” days away from school filled with “The Price is Right”, macaroni and tomatoes, and pedicures… The way you would trace the lines of my hands to calm me down. It was all your way of loving me.
And finally, you taught me that dying can be graceful, even if not on the outside. You taught me to cry from the depths of my soul. Not to hold back, but to feel it all–even the hurt. You taught me that through the tears of pain and joy, my Heavenly Father would be there for me. And you taught me that even if another woman would be the one to see me get married and be the grandmother of my babies, you would be, and ARE my model of a wife and mother. Thank you for teaching me to love you, and to let you go.
As the book goes, “I’ll love you forever, I’ll love you for always, As long as I’m living my momma you’ll be….”
Love,
Mary
Mother,
Twenty six years ago you lost your son. As a young girl, I observed the discord and depression in your life. The way you and daddy cried and prayed. I felt you left me somewhere back there. Not intentionally, of course. You couldn’t bear to be close to someone, not ever again. You continued through life with a heavy weight on your shoulder that you couldn’t shrug off. You rarely spent time with a friend. You hid inside yourself. But some days you smiled. Until I had my own son, I never realized how hard it was for you to smile. The day my son was born I cried so hard. Not because of joy, but because of the sadness of yours that I finally felt. I do not go a day in my life without missing my brother or being amazed at the fact that you faced every day whether you wanted to or not. I feel a special connection between you and your grandson. Thank you for embracing him and showing me that one can continue to live even after one of the most important things you had to live for was gone. You are an inspiration.
Bethlehem House is a Christian program offering shelter and services to homeless men, women and children in central Arkansas. We provide housing, transportation, food, clothing, case management, and life skills training to the individuals and families living at the Shelter. Please visit http://www.bethlehemhouse.net to find out more about our program!
Hi.
A charity I support is called Committed To Freedom. It is a ministry serving men and women who have suffered childhood abuse - with a major emphasis on sexual abuse. They offer online courses, retreats, a weekly inspirational essay (free) written by the founder and executive director - all set within a Christian context. You can see more at their website: http://www.committedtofreedom.org
I have taken two course and attended one retreat. The things I have learned as a result - I had never heard before or since. The tools have been a great help.
Lorelie Jorheim
A wonderful charity supporting a “home made” orphanage in India, now supporting 28 children who were left homeless, most by AIDS deaths of parents. It began taking one child off the streets by a private family, and it is that family who now cares for these precious kids. This is truly following God’s directives to care for the orphans and widows.
The website did not show up…here it is: http://www.shepherdsfoldfamily.com
the website is:
(this was just posted to my blog, on my mom’s birthday, along with her picture.)
Dear Mother ~
I write this to you, on what would be your 84th birthday. You’ve been gone to heaven for over five years now. We did not have our last good-bye, hug, or even a melting of hearts, forgiving each other. We went nearly twenty years with little communication. You only saw a few of your grandchildren from a distance. It could be we just never bonded when you adopted me at six months of age. But you wanted to. I know that. You were not perfect, just as I was not, and am not. And though my heart was crushed that you did not even want my name in your obituary, I have the peace that both our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life – that’s eternal. I could have continued on with the why’s, the bitterness, the pointing of my finger back at you, I know you no longer do. I know you are healed in so many ways, and there will no longer be rejection in our relationship. And despite our differences, there are special things of you that I remember, that I pass on to my children and where I am like you.
As I look at your picture, I think of all the make-up you wore ~ drawers full of make-up and creams and how you never wanted to be caught without your make-up even during surgery or days before you went to heaven. But now, you are glorious, as you behold Him, not needing this! What awe you must see! I think of you often when I hang out the laundry, just like you did, wash cloths hung from corner to corner. I think of you when I take the dry pillowcases off the line – but I do not iron them like you did! My favorite home dinner you made, Swiss Steak, is made just as you did, now in my home. When I hand sign my name to a letter or card, I end it with the same swirl you did. I think of you when making my Thanksgiving stuffing, embellished with raisins and apples or when watering the flowers and garden and the kids run by me, wanting me to spray them, just as you did with me. I think of you when I see an old golden Chrysler Lincoln Continental, one of the last times we rode together. A tire flew off a car in front of us, and I saw it before you, stopping you from driving over it. I felt protection over you, a bit of a role reversal. You are remembered when I hear or sing “Because He Lives”, your favorite hymn and I was saddened it was not sung at your funeral. Little did I know that 8 months later our pastor would chose it to be sung at our son’s funeral – I thought of you then too. Kirby Vacuum’s remind me of your diligent Friday housecleaning. An old sewing machine is the reminder of the formal 70’s long dresses you made for my sister and I for a Mother’s Sewing/Style show. Taking my children to the fair is reminders of the years we went to the Wisconsin State Fair. My children playing Monopoly, Sorry or Trouble is a bittersweet reminder of good and some tension filled games at the kitchen table. Yellow was your favorite color and the color of the roses I laid at your grave.
And though I longed for years to have a relationship with you, a grandmother for my children, it sadly never happened, this side of heaven. I will ache for what we did not have, but look forward to the reunion we will have in heaven. To know we will never turn away from each other again, gives me peace. It will no longer be work to meet your expectations, and I won’t be a disappointment to you any longer. Possibly in heaven it won’t matter any more what we missed on earth, yet, I imagine you finding the good times of my childhood, sharing with my son and daughter in heaven with you now.
I think of the unconditional love
I longed for,
which will happen,
when . . . all is healed.
I look forward to this with you,
for, forever.
With my love,
Loni
Dear mother,
I am so very gratefull for all the things you have done for me. you have put happyness in my life even through hard times and those days when I were sick. thanks for the encouragement you put into my everyday life. I know I only may be twelve but there are no words that can explain how I feel about you that even the amount of stars out there cannot put in the right word for me. thank you for bringing me into this wonderful big world that we call earth. thank you for bringing me through tough times that I go through. so the main idea of this letter is to tell you I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YOUR SON RICKY
PS. (I LOVE TO INFINITY AND BEYOND)