A Mother’s Day Thank You
The forecast for the day is partly laundry, with showers of requests and a chance of thanks. Not all parental repetition is exactly predictable, there’s a little variety to mix things up, like: Is it one dishwasher load or two today?
Let’s be honest, it can be excruciating. Every day seems like Groundhog Day, right? Every day seems like Groundhog Day, right? Every…oh, stop it.
I named my blog “Spinning Cook” because I wanted a tribute in a way to all of us who maintain this daily grind. We spin through another day, spreading another peanut butter sandwich, dressing another toddler, cleaning another load (dishes, laundry, diaper…).
But here’s the perspective I want to offer: In this spinning process, a beautiful thing is happening. Those little people whose lives we protect don’t usually feel that burden of repetition. Strange, right? What they experience, if we care for them properly, is constancy. See, the earth is spinning, but we wouldn’t know it. We’ll only really notice that fact if the spin slows or turns to a wobble.
Occasionally the spinning comes to a brief rest. Savor these moments.
This is the challenge of daily maintenance. If the laundry gets done everything stays “normal,” but if it stops one day a noticeable problem piles up. Wondering why you don’t get a lot of credit for that hard work? Because it’s invisible!
So to moms and grandmoms on this Mother’s Day, and to all who care for young ones, thank you. Thanks for being the ground they can count on, ever-working but rarely-noticed. Please take a break for a day. If you want to make a point, take a break for a week. Most importantly, we all need to notice the invisible daily labors and say thanks all around. Not just once a year – our thanks should spin around faster than that.
Whom do you admire for keeping things running? And what thanks have you received that really meant something to you? Please tell me below.
Right on, Ryan. I try to say “xie-xie” (thank you) to the people who do such a great job keeping the facilities clean in the train stations here in Taiwan. It’s a constant job, and you can count on it being done. I thanked one lady as she was mopping the floor and she just beamed at me! Made my day. 🙂
Very cool, Mark. Invisible contributions are everywhere, let’s shine a light on them!
My almost three year old son gave me an unsolicited, thank you mama, this morning as I sliced banana into his cereal. There was no prompting on my part and those ones mean so much!
I totally know the feeling Krista – just yesterday my 2yo said “thanks daddy” for a piece of pizza, and it really took me by surprise. So sweet and heartwarming to see them start to show appreciation and give a little care back to us! As infants I always looked forward to that first smile 6-7 weeks in or so more than anything…up until that point they’re either unhappy or neutral. Big moment when the love starts to show both ways!
Beautiful post, Ryan. Put my laundry in a better perspective today. Thank you 🙂
Glad to hear it Sarah! Life is really just one big spin cycle, right? ;^)
Dang…I need to get that laundry done! And yes…it is great for us to recognize the things our moms do for us! Great post and a reminder to stop and say thank you!