what I want for mother’s day

I’ve been dreading Mother’s Day for a while. (Or is it Mothers Day?)(Or Mothers’ Day?)(The day belonging to the mother? Or the mothers? Or is it the day of mothers?)(The grammar of it is certainly not the point of this post.)(Carry on.)

I don’t like exclusionary “holidays”. Ones like today, and Father’s Day and Valentine’s Day. I don’t even like (secular) Christmas, but that’s a whole different ball game. I don’t like that certain dates on our calendar bring pain to so many people. Wouldn’t it be better to have Women’s Day? And Men’s Day? And Queer Day for good measure? Don’t those fit EVERYONE?

I’m sure most women who are mothers have been asked what they would like for Mother’s Day. So, here, I have listed what I want.

What I want for Mother’s Day is for childless mothers to have their arms full of children.

What I want for Mother’s Day is for motherless children to be embraced.

What I want for Mother’s Day is for no mother to have to lose a child ever again.

What I want for Mother’s Day is for no child to have to grow up without a mother.

What I want for Mother’s Day is for all post-abortive women who live in regret every single hour of every single day to be able to go back and re-do their decision.

What I want for Mother’s Day is for no woman to feel like they have to avoid church or public places because of the loneliness or shame or rejection they feel for being childless.

What I want for Mother’s Day is for women/couples who are childless by choice to not be ridiculed for her/their decision.

What I want for Mother’s Day is for every failed adoption to have a happy ending.

What I want for Mother’s Day is for every broken relationship between mother and child to be mended.

What I want for Mother’s Day is for every abusive mother to realize the consequences to her actions.

What I want for Mother’s Day is for no woman to be hurt by the carelessness of others. (I’m looking at you, Costco, wishing every woman a Happy Mother’s Day.)

What I want for Mother’s Day is the bazillions of dollars spent on flowers and cards and such to go toward something more useful, like fertility research or crisis pregnancy centres or feeding and housing the homeless.

What I want for Mother’s Day is a day to celebrate all women of all shapes and sizes and classes and roles.

What I want for Mother’s Day is for the world to be a safe, accepting, empathetic place.

But what I want for Mother’s Day will likely never happen.