to me and to you!
Today is Mexican Mother’s Day. We are planning on celebrating on American Mother’s Day, so today was a pretty normal day. We went to Walmart, took an afternoon nap (that’s a pretty good gift around these parts), and a neighborhood walk.
I wanted to share this quote that I saw floating around; it’s a little different and resonated with me:
A Quote for Mother’s Day
Hijo es un ser que nos prestaron para un curso intensivo de como amar a alguien más que a nosotros mismos, de cómo cambiar nuestros peores defectos para darles los mejores ejemplos y de nosotros aprender a tener coraje. Ser padre o madre es el mayor acto de coraje que alguien puede tener, porque es exponerse a todo tipo de dolor, principalmente el de la incertidumbre de estar actuando correctamente y del miedo de perder algo tan amado.
¿Perder? ¿cómo? No es nuestro, ¿recuerdan? Fue apenas un préstamo”….
Cierto, pero es un préstamo que llega a convertirse en el don más preciado que jamás llegamos a tener en el efímero tiempo que dure el empréstito. Un préstamo por el que damos la vida, sabiendo que hay que devolverlo. Un préstamo sin intereses, pero cuyo cuidado lleva implícito el más alto sacrificio y la defensa mas sólida! Cuida tu préstamo, muchos lo querrán, otros lo odiarán, pero para ti no tiene precio.
by José Saramago (originally in Portuguese)
Now in English:
A son is a being that we’re loaned for an intensive course in how to love someone more than ourselves, in how to change our worst defects in order to give them the best examples and in ourselves learn to have courage. Being a father or mother is the greatest act of courage that one can have, because it is exposed to all types of pain, mainly in the uncertainty of acting correctly and the fear of losing something so beloved.
Losing? How? It is not ours, remember? It was just a loan…
True, but it is a loan that would become the most precious gift that we’ve ever had in the ephemeral time that is the loan. A loan from that which gives us life, knowing that we must return it. A loan without interest, but whose care implies the highest sacrifice and most solid defense. Look after your loan, many will want it, others will hate it, but for you it is priceless.
More Thoughts on Motherhood
Finding Your Inner Strength in Motherhood