askyourdreamsforideas: Overflow of gratitude-The priceless gifts my children have given me

Yesterday was Mothers' Day in my country (it is on a different date around the world).

(Warning: this post contains flowery/sentimental language that certain readers may find extremely cheesy )

Mothers' Day is supposed to be about feeling grateful for your mum(s) in your life and all the mothering figures you were ever lucky enough to have in it and expressing this gratitude in words and actions.Most of us do that,as we should.But somehow each time this year I feel it's not about me receiving gratitude as a mum,rather than expressing it.

How could it be any different?Is there in my life a blessing greater than my children?Αm Ι not the blessed one for having the honour and the priviledge of raising them,loving them,sharing the most tender years of their lives with them?Am I not the lucky,the priviledged one?Shouldn't I be the one thanking them for making me a mother?

Like all mothers,I love my children to death.Hopefully they return that love.But there is so much more to that.I am and will be eternally grateful to my kids for all the things they've been teaching me all those years and all the things I've become because of them.

Thank you my children.Thank you for making me a mother in the first place.I've been wanting to have the experience of motherhood ever since I'd watched my (semi-wild) cat nurse her kittens with that blissful expression all over her face (here's why breastfeeding is pleasurable,by the way).You fulfilled my highest aspirations just by showing up in this world.How cool is that for both of us?

Thank you for making a practical,common sense,feet-firmly-on-the-ground woman out of the scatterbrain,castles in the air,absent-minded,her-nose-always-buried-in-a-book nerd that I used to be.Don't get me wrong,I loved being a nerd,but I kind of prefer myself the way I am now!

Thank you for helping my body flourish like a flower in full bloom because of my bringing you into this world.Don't you ever believe that bad hype about how a woman loses her figure because of childbearing.(here's why there are so few yummy mommies compared to the past)The extra flooding of estrogen during a pregnancy in a woman's body acts like an elixir of youth that helps her stay young and healthy (here's why along with some of the benefits of estrogen).And thank you for teaching me both the limitations and the amazing powers of my physical body;you were increadibly coopertive partners in our joint natural childbirth venture,I could't have made it without your active help!

Thank you for making a business woman out of me.I was always the shy type,forever doubting myself and having no faith in my abilities as a child and a teenager.The confidence I gained after each one of you was born and the multitasking skills I had to aquire during your upbringing really came in handy in my career as an entrepreneur.I believe I am not the only one in this.And thank you for putting up with having a mum who is so often away from home to work,as it is proven that people hate children of working mums.

Thank you for expanding my capacity for love and for bringing me to the threshold of despair at the same time when all too often there were days I just could't cope and so I had to learn to let go of my perfectionism and let life lead me to new places instead.Thank you for teaching me that happy children and a relaxed mom are more important in life than an immaculately clean and tidy home.

Thank you for teaching me that I am merely the priviledged witness in the unfolding of your life,that I cannot and therefore I ought not try to control the process and that you are more children of life itself than mine.(Thanks Khalil Gibran!)

What an amazing lesson for me to realise that each one of you is totally different ever since you were still in the womb and that environment is actually the least important factor in the forming of your character!I have tried to raise all four of you in the same way,yet each one of you has never failed to surprise me by developing into your own deliciously unique individual with amazing traits and talents.

Thank you for filling my life with love,hugs,cuddles,kisses,tears,laughter and unimaginable joy

Αnd if I was ever entitled as a mother to give you one piece of advice about life,in exchange for all the valuable gifts I received from you,it would be the following: