Mother’s Day
Images courtesy of Clark Family Archives
Today, we honor mothers and the mother figures in our lives.
We all have, biologically: one mom, two grandmas, four great-grandmas, eight great-great-grandmas, and sixteen great-great-great grandmas, and the number doubles every generation that we go back.
Being a cancer survivor, the mind does tend toward the question of whether there is some undiscovered genetic mutation that was inherited from these lovely ladies, but that’s not where I want to take us today.
These women were obviously important in our lives - without them, we wouldn’t be here! But they, and the other women in our lives have touched us in more ways that. That includes members of adoptive families, step-families, aunties, and other women in the community. That’s a lot of people who have had a part in you being who you are!
The women pictured above are some of my ancestors. Of course, I inherited various genetic traits from them, but what else? What were their lives like? What choices did they make that ultimately shaped my life?
There are various ways we know of these women: family stories, news articles, lists of births and deaths inscribed in the pages of family Bibles. Genealogy buffs look in census records and graveyards trying to get information, but for many of them, their history is lost to us. Without a written record there is not much we know about them, but they are the women who influenced who we are today.
Are there certain skills that are considered important in your family? Did your grandmother make quilts or sing on the stage or run a family business? Did that homemaker in the past make her home in the city, the suburbs, or the country? Even though women didn’t necessarily hold official roles in the government, clergy, or business, the occupations of the male family members did affect the women around them.
I join you, dear readers, in celebrating today the good that has happened in our lives due to the mothers and mother figures in our lives.