I don’t get it. Being a mom is hard and wonderful no matter what your way of life. Working mom, stay at home, home schooler, work from homer. However you do it, being a mom is the hardest, most important thing you’ll ever do. Now I will say some do have it harder than others.  I was so humbled by the stories of single moms who raised their kids living in poverty and working their fingers to the bone and sacrificing for the sake of their kids. My life of hosting book groups in coffee shops and going from carpool to soccer practice is easy-peasy in comparison. But not always. Because I am also a mom who battled infertility for years, managed an international adoption and high risk pregnancy simultaneously, and cared for an elderly dying parent at the same time I cared for preschoolers. And THAT was HARD. Likewise, I am sure the single moms that scrape by force of will have some incredibly beautiful and irreplacable moments with their kids. As I thought about all these women commenting on my blog post, the diversity and complexity of motherhood began to amaze me. And out of that amazement an idea was born.

What if we have a diverse group of women each with their own unique experiences collectively share their motherhood journey?

What would be different in the stories? What would stay the same? How could we come to a place where we all honor each mother’s story as beautiful and unique even in its messiness, even in the differences? What if we took a month to rally together and CELEBRATE each other instead of fighting those worn out mommy wars? [caption id="attachment_1998" align="aligncenter" width="660"] graphic credit to Jennifer Tucker[/caption] That idea, my friends, will be made manifest on this very blog in a few days through the Mosaic of Motherhood series. For the entire month of May, each day we will read the story of a different beautiful, imperfect mom and how she has journeyed through motherhood. The words will come from their hearts and speak to your souls. I am so excited about this that my tears of sadness have been replaced by tears of joy. I can’t wait to share these women’s stories with you. I hope you can’t wait to read them. To make sure that you don’t miss a single one of the wonderful guest posts, go ahead and click on the “Follow Blog” button in the upper right hand corner. Or follow Centering Down on Facebook. These are some great women and I know they are going to be sharing some amazing stories. But that’s not all! We want to hear your story too! On Friday, May 8th there will be an open link up where all bloggers can share their feelings and experiences with Mother’s Day. Love it, hate it, how to handle it? Want to talk about your kids, your mom, yourself? Whatever, just share your story! And if you are not a blogger, you can write in the comments below the post. Also, on Friday the 29th there will be another open-link up as we finish the month out. There were so many amazing women who had stories to tell, the month filled up super fast. I know there are other amazing people out there that have a motherhood story to share and I would love to host you all on this site that day.  Again, if you are not a blogger. Just comment at will! So, keep your eyes peeled for the big things happening in May. I pray that this will be a healing and uniting experience not only for the women sharing their stories, but for all involved. We moms need to build each other up, not tear each each other down. For that matter, that if we applied that truth to everyone, we’d all be better off. ]]>