May 7, 2012

Happy Mother's Day

Grammy and her girls
With Mother's Day approaching, I thought I would review a few books on the subject.  When doing a quick search, I ran across Love You Forever, by Robert Munsch.  This book, written in 1986 when Mama Cat was just turning two, touched my heart at the time and continues to be a favorite of many.  New mommies are often overwhelmed with the level of love they feel for their baby, and how much that intensifies as the child grows up.  Munsch captures the intensity of the mother-child relationship in a sentimental and simple verse. 

“I’ll love you forever,
I’ll like you for always,
as long as I’m living
my baby you’ll be.”

But here is what shocked and surprised me, though it shouldn't have.  Munsch wrote this verse after he and his wife experienced not one, but two still births.  On his website, he writes, "The song was my song to my dead babies. For a long time I had it in my head and I couldn’t even sing it because every time I tried to sing it I cried. It was very strange having a song in my head that I couldn’t sing."  Then one day it occurred to him that he could write a story around the song, and well, 15,000,000 copies later, I guess he wrote a pretty good story.  My own mother had a still birth baby and her first son died when he was five.  I can tell you that while they were rarely mentioned, they were always present in her life.  To think of her pain and how she shielded us from it touches me still.

Some reviewers criticize the book as creepy.  Afterall, the mommy never seems to be able to let go of her little boy.  Munsch writes stories with lots of humor, and that's how I read it, with his sense of humor in my head.  He is not writing a 'how to' be a mommy book.  He is simply illustrating that we mommies will go to any length for our children and our love knows no boundaries.  Creepy to some, but that is why a mother lion will rip you to shreds, a dog will bite off your hand, and a bird will peck you on your head.  Don't mess with our babies. 

So, on that happy and cautionary note, I wish all the mommies and their babies a very happy Mother's Day! 


A Mommy holds a son's hand for a while, his heart forever.
A mom's hug lasts long after she lets go. ~Author Unknown

But only one mother the wide world over~



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