Mother Enough

Have you ever snickered at a Mom who has a dirty house, or who is lagging behind at work or worse still whose children are unkempt and ill behaved? The most cardinal sin of all, is a mother who is so busy that she doesn’t even care about her childrens school or extracurricular classes. I admit, I have at times wondered how a mother could possibly not manage to do all the above with just one hand and use her other hand to dress up, go partying and have a life. Somewhere deep inside me, I used to think they must not be “Mother Enough” to be in such a bad state. After all, the ability to cope up with all of the above is just ingrained in the DNA of a good mother. If someone is Mother Enough, she would by default never forget her childrens classes, their medicine schedules or her house chores.

Yeah! The second confession of the day is, “I was SOOOO WRONG!!!”

With two kids and one more than a full time job, I am in such a deep sense of self realization. The first time I was late to pick up Yog from school, I was shocked at myself. It must have been a one off case and of course, it could never ever be repeated again. Few days back it happened twice in succession. By the time I finished the first meeting of the day, I was already 30 minutes late for his school. Was the clock running faster, or my sense of time just screwed up?? Anyhow, that doesn’t matter. All that matters is that, as of today, I realize that maybe I too, am not Mother Enough.

This experience has taught me never to judge anyone on the face of things. Till I have never stepped in their shoes, I don’t know what makes them do what they do. In my experience, whenever I have looked down upon someone for anything in life, Life has ensured that I stand in that very spot looking down upon myself a few years later.

I hope the opposite of this also holds true. If I constantly seek the goodness in people, maybe I too someday, will be good enough for myself. Till then, maybe I should just try to be Mother Enough. Perhaps the best news is that, no matter how good enough I am as a Mother, I know I will always be the best mother in the eyes of my children.