Yesterday being Mother’s Day was a special occasion for many, but like other specific days, they are often bittersweet, and for various reasons. Those of us who have had wonderful mothers who have passed away usually have a lump in our throats for most of the day. And it’s also not easy for those women who always wanted children and were not able to or things simply didn’t work out where this was possible. (Don’t worry, I’m not complaining).
Others have taken on step-children, sometimes with happy endings while some were not so lucky. We often fail to think about these people who don’t fit into the traditional “mother role,” but hopefully we recognize that there is more to being a mother than simply being female and giving birth.
We’ve certainly seen many cases lately in the news to substantiate those thoughts. Obviously there are many unfortunate examples of motherhood gone wrong where a woman should never have been given that sacred opportunity and an equal number of beautiful stories where another woman has filled the shoes of that calling unselfishly without the title being bestowed on her at the child’s birth.
That made me think about Alice in Keeping Faith. What a wonderfully rich example of a mother’s love. Alice actually put her life on hold to ensure that Faith was a happy, normal child. It was Alice who was there for Faith’s first tooth, her first steps, and her first crush on the boy next door. She was also there when Faith stumbled, made a failing grade, lost a friend, and cried for the parents who were absent from her life.
Alice was a mother in the strongest sense of the word, and fortunately Faith recognizes this early in the book and remembers it throughout the sequel. Whatever the reader might think of Alice, the irreverent and often brash East Texas woman who sometimes lacks polish and sophistication, you certainly can’t fault her skills as a loving and dedicated mother.