This weekend is Mother’s Day. Mostly my feelings about Mother’s Day are captured well in a column that Anne Lamott wrote many years ago. She reposts it every year, but warns it is “ONLY for those of you who dread the holiday, dread having strangers, cashiers and waiters exclaim cheerfully, mindlessly, “Happy Mother’s Day!”. Be warned. Although my experience tells me over the years that many women do approach mother’s day with dread and sadness, and I have always wrestled with the mixed feelings that the weekend raises.
You can find Lamott’s column at: https://www.salon.com/2010/05/08/hate_mothers_day_anne_lamott/
However, this week I had a lovely surprise from Alana … with a Facebook comment “was lovely to see this come up again! A story about Martha Martin and me.” She reposted an article from Broadview (formerly the United Church Observer) from 2020 about us … “When daughters follow their mothers into ministry …”
https://broadview.org/mother-daughter-minister-pairs/
I hadn’t read the article in awhile and I did find myself feeling quite energized and proud, and profoundly grateful. For all of it … the struggles and hard times, and also the hundreds of joy filled minutes. All of it. The incredible privilege of being in ministry … in its many forms … and the delight it has been when I get to do it with my daughter.
It’s been a week filled with both awe and sadness as I have prepared for funerals for 3 strong women of faith at Bethany. 3 funerals in 8 days is hard work it turns out. Not just for me, but for all the staff that are involved. But it’s a drop in the bucket to the hard work and contributions that these 3 women have left this faith community. It has also been inspiring. And it has been an honour to have been a very small part of their journeys, and to have worked with their daughters in planning the services. It has been a privilege to be a witness to their lives.
Glenda Reader, Harriet King, and Ruth Chisolm. Mother's Day will be a bittersweet day for their families this year.
Below is a picture of all my kids with their partners.
With much gratitude.
Martha
