Mum's The Word

by Alicia Webster
(Winchester, VA USA)

I never wanted to be a mother. Other girls played with their dolls, while I sat in the corner and read books by all the masters. Spinsterhood was my ideal, and the life of Marian the librarian (before falling for the charms of Harold Hill) was my ideal of nirvana.

And then love fell into my lap, at the ripe ol' age of 35, and I was goner. Suddenly all was possible, and I proceeded to have the three of you in quick succession, each one of you following one year after the other.

Permanent vulnerability attached itself to me, and I found myself a bundle of worries: Would I be a good enough mother? Would you be happy to call me Mom? Will I have the answers when you need them?

But I needn't have fretted. Because I have discovered that we are traveling through this together. I am not leading; you are not following, but we are walking side by side, and the journey is always surprising. I have little time to read books now, but there are still stories to tell, stories to read, stories to hear.

What interesting little people you are. I can't wait to see how you turn out...