As fast as a leopard?

This is the inscription on the Mother's Day card Megan made me two years ago. I rather like being described in this way - especially the part about being as fast as a leopard. That would only be true if there was a box of Lindors slightly out of reach that I was trying procure before my lovely family snaffled them all.

I love receiving home-made gifts from the children, but I suspect these days are numbered. Last Christmas and birthday, and Mother's Day too, it was shop-bought gifts that I received. That was wonderful too, don't get me wrong. But the hand-crafted cards and paper flowers are priceless, especially the wording that they chose to write on the cards.

It's great to feel appreciated as a mother. For me, it's not only a role, but a major part of my identity: as fundamentally part of my sense of self as my name or the colour of my eyes. I may be helping to shape them as they grow, but having them in my life shapes me every bit as much. Every day they are a bit older, the challenges of parenting them that bit different from the day before. And there have been challenges -as there are in every family.

I try to bring them up with firm(ish) boundaries, but with the unshakeable knowledge that they are always loved, always accepted. No matter what mistakes thay might make along the way. Goodness knows I make enough mistakes of my own - and I don't mind admitting it when I do. After all, Megan reckons I'm as daft as a brush, but as long as they carry on loving me despite that, I reckon I can live with it!

My entry for this weeks 2011 challenge topic "Mother".