Like the mother of the world, touch each being as your beloved child. ~ the Buddha
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to be a mother of grown children. My own two are in their twenties. The lives we all lead today – in three different parts of the country — are wildly different from the life we shared under one roof just a few short years ago.
And yet, although my duties have changed dramatically, I’m no less a mother today then I was then. In fact, most days I manage to find some opportunity to bring a bit of maternal energy into the world – perhaps on the other end of the phone with a son, or simply by watering a thirsty houseplant, offering a meal to someone who could use one, or sitting quietly with a friend.
Which makes me think: Aren’t we all mothers, whether or not we have biological children of our own? To be fully present for another is, in a spiritual sense, to be a mother.
Each time we support the dignity, health, and growth of any living being, we are mothering the world within our reach. To be a mother is to nurture life. To be a mother is to love without condition or expectation. To be a mother is to recognize the divinity of all beings, everywhere. To be a mother is to honor the invisible and the intangible – kindness, humility, tenderness.
More than ever, our broken world is in need of mothers — mothers of all ages and shapes and sizes, mothers who are both life-giving and life-affirming, mothers who know in their bones what it is that we’re really here to do: Take care of each other and of our precious planet.
I made this video for all of us moms – and for the many beings we mother, human and otherwise. It’s my early Mother’s Day gift to you, in honor of all that you are and all that you do. I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I loved creating it. (Big thanks to my own spiritual daughter, Lauren Seabourne, for putting my words and images together so beautifully.)
And while we’re on the subject of mothers. . .
In honor of Mother’s Day, May 14, I’m offering personalized, signed, gift-wrapped copies of all of my books (some at special discounted rates — while supplies last). Details below. But don’t delay: deadline for all orders is Tuesday, May 2.
books!
signed, sealed, delivered, they’re yours
– in time for mother’s day
Want to order a signed book (or several) for the special moms in your life? It’s easy. Here’s how:
1. Click here.
(Note: This link will brings you to my own landing page on my husband’s website, Earth, Sky & Water. Steve sells beautiful posters, note cards, and laminated nature identification guides. And because his business is already all set up to take online orders and fulfill them quickly, he’s kindly offered to handle this special sale for me. While you’re there, feel free to browse his offerings, too.)
2. Want your book(s) personalized? Leave instructions for me in the “ORDER NOTES” FIELD on the shipping address page. Include the book title(s) you’ve ordered, the name for the inscription, and any special message you’d like me to write.
3. If there are no instructions, I’ll simply sign your book(s), gift-wrap them, and have them sent to the address specified.
4. For Mother’s Day, I’m offering a reduced price that includes free gift-wrap by yours truly. Spend $80 or more and your shipping is free. (Use promotional code 4JOY on the shipping address page.)
5. Every copy of my NEW book, Moments of Seeing, will include a bookmark featuring quotes from the book.
6. Hurry! Deadline for all orders is Tuesday, May 2.
Just watched your Mother’s Day YouTube video. Oh, my god, it left me in tears. I just had both of my kids here for the holidays and the sentiments you expressed are exactly what I am feeling. You have captured my soul. My two twenty-something children are on their own and it’s hard not to have contact with them on a day-to-day basis. My son lives in Boston and he took an overnight bus to come home for two days. I was glad to get that
7am text, “Mom, I made it home safely.” I always look at the entry way when they’re both home and I see the shoes lined up by the front door. It gives me a sense of comfort. All is right with the world.Thank you for your insight in just knowing what I am feeling. Happy Mother’s Day a bit early, from one mother to another.
Was so touched by your video for Mother’s Day. I recalled a recent conversation with a friend saying, “As old as my girls get, I am still a mother.” Still worry when they travel alone, still feel my heart stop a little when I hear their health has a possible issue, and still weep when their heart is hurt.
Both of my girls, now women, are divorced. I will never experience grandchildren, something I had so looked forward to. But, I am blessed with many nieces and nephews with children that I can be a Great Auntie Grandma to! As you depicted, we can continue to mother in so many ways.
For now, I cuddle my 80 lb. Golden Retrievers, that I call my ‘babies’ and they know me as ‘Mommy’.
Happy Mother’s Day Katrina. I truly enjoy sharing this journey called Life with you and your readers!
Loved the Mother’s Day video!! Thank you for sharing it. Happy Mother’s Day.
Thank you thank you from the bottom of my heart Katrina. I am at 66 a daughter , mother of three, grandmother of three and mothering runs deeply in my soul. Community garden….yoga students….elderly parents and neighbors….but I find that it is my own heart who needs my mothering gifts to turn inwardly these days to strike the balance that makes what feeds me the same as what feeds others- the joining of hands, the complete circle, no longer grasping or pushing away. thank you for your gifts.
Katrina, thank you for putting into words what so deeply resonates in my heart. Happy, Happy Mother’s day!
Beautiful tribute–well said. Many tears when watching your video. Happy Mother’s Day to you, Katrina. Thank you for reminding us of all the ways and opportunities to mother and nurture in our world.
i LOVE this….so wistful, my heart is aching with every blessed line……..your words echo the whispers of my heart, though you are a little stage or two ahead of me. one of mine is half out of the nest, the other is still very much here. but i know, i know, it’s coming.
i wish this could be the sort of film that wins an academy award. i love your knowing that “she” is ever a mother. and mothers here, there and everywhere……..
bless your magnificent heart….xoxoxox
Thank you for the gift from your heart! It warmed mine. Love and Namasté
Katrina,
Your words and video touched my heart. Motherhood is so much more than giving birth.
We give our children roots first and then wings – the latter being the most difficult.
Thank you for sharing.
XO
Thank you for that. I have tears streaming down my face. One of mine is out, the second will be out in a year or two. This new phase of life is so different. But I loved your examples of how we still mother. As a New England transplant, now living in Florida, I also love the photos of your local scenery. Makes me want to move back… As always, it amazes me how your words just get inside my soul and perfectly describe what I am feeling. Thank you and Happy Mother’s Day to you too. 🙂
Dear Katrina~
Received your early Mother’s Day video, this morning, in my email. Watched it while I enjoyed my one cup of coffee today & shed some tears along with much nodding & relating.
My girls are 24 & 22. One out of college and one in. Leading their very busy lives. I miss them so much.
Thankfully, we have our 12 year old still at home and needing help with homework and reminders to brush his teeth and wear his jacket …
You got me, with the part about you & your mother. I lost mine in November. I was 52 & she was 92. Although I know, for sure, that we were lucky to have each other for so long, I am missing her so much.
And I wonder.
Am I a daughter?
Oh. That grabbed the heart…
I’m a proud soul daughter. xoxo
Thank you Katrina.
Absolutely beautiful! On the day that a FaceTime with my own thriving college sophomore contrasted with the day his best friend from high school left for a drug and alcohol residential facility, you can probably imagine how this video on motherhood touched my fragile heart. Motherhood surely is the most gut wrenching and life filling job on earth. 💛
Mother of two boys close in age, in college and flying farther from the nest each day. Daughter mourning the passing of her mother three years ago this week on Easter morning. Wife of a man who loves her for the woman she is, but likes some mothering now and then. Working woman who helps younger women know their potential. Friend who wants to help make life easier when she can. Renewed feminist who wants to make a difference. Yet always a mother, thankful for this video, especially that parts about two little boys.
Beautiful.
Thank you.
oh my thank you for that beautiful early Mother’s Day gift. I sobbed the whole time. Rest assured tears of joy and of transition for I too have grown children. Two daughters that make their way happily thriving on their own. Thank you for the reminder that feeding the baby bunny that visits under the fence, keeping a pesticide free garden for bugs and birds, and baking bread allow me to continue to nurture the “smaller mother” that still holds my heart and deed. I hope that you have a lovely Mother’s Day and am thankful for your generous gift of sharing your story. xx-hb
A thousand thank yous, Katrina.
A simple but profound Thank You Katrina!
~Christine
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! What an awesome video and the words brought me to tears.
From another mother of 2 boys in their twenties feeling much the same. “Always a mother”.
I look forward to your posts and always experience a common bond as the mother of grown sons who are making their own way in the world in different places. I was eager to view your video but as a person with a hearing impairment, I was not able to access the script. Would you consider adding closed captioning in the future?
Thank you,
Jane
That was beautiful. Thank you.