A Moment of Self-Awareness: "Will You Please Be My Mom?"
One random day, a couple of years ago, I posted this picture of a mini-pizza person on Facebook. A comment from one of my kids' friends' moms has stuck with me ever since. She jokingly asked, "Will you please be my mom?"
To my surprise, my heart leapt and silently shouted "YES!" Two years later, that "yes" is still reverberating through me. While I didn't actually try to adopt a 30-something-year-old woman, in that moment I recognized that I wanted to let my mothering energy expand. I wanted to care for and nurture and have patience with people. I wanted to be there for them. I wanted to feed them and comfort them and teach them and love them. ALL of them! Not to replace their actual mothers or act as a mother-figure, but to reach out to people from that nurturing well of love within me.
Over the past few years, I can now see that many of the big and little decisions I've made have allowed me to expand in exactly this way.
For example, I've embraced opportunities to make meals for families needing a little extra help (i.e., due to illnesses). I joined the work-trade program at my yoga studio, where I get to create a welcoming environment and support an organization that nurtures people deeply. I became a Strong Start volunteer, helping children with their early reading skills, which then led to a job instructing preschoolers and preparing them for kindergarten. Recently, I've started looking after a few neighbourhood kids before school and volunteering in the Nutrition for Learning program, which provides healthy snacks for students. All of these opportunities feel like they just fell into my lap and fit perfectly into the life I'm trying to create. It's as if the mini-pizza person has continued whispering "yes" in my ear, reminding me of that Facebook comment that lit something up in me.
Who knew that making mini-pizza people with my kids and sharing a photo on Facebook would lead to a powerful moment of self-awareness? I love it when life offers these unexpected glimpses into what we truly want, need, or have to offer.
P.S. I couldn't resist sharing this photo of little Andrew helping me make the pizzas! He's grown and changed a lot since then but he still loves being my kitchen helper! :)