The Mothers of All Mothers

We have so much noise in the world right now it is particularly easy to become distracted. There are so many different narratives coming at us we can easily spend our days spinning.

Each morning I write my intentions for the day to stay on course. I find myself consistently writing “stay focused and keep to things that feed your soul."

It occurs to me tonight I have used my “soul feeding time” this week to explore the lives of three women who inspire me: Queen Elizabeth in 'The Crown', Michelle Obama through the documentary ‘Becoming’ and Hillary Clinton via the series 'Hillary.' Politics aside, these women have struggled to strike the real and perceived balance between their various roles and responsibilities as wife, mother and career woman. They have tried to manage this while being scrutinized and often criticized. Hillary laughs in an interview that she spent an average of 90 minutes in hair and makeup every day of her last campaign while Bernie Sanders could take a shower and be good to go.

For the past eight weeks, every work day ends for me in a Zoom meeting with seven other colleagues to touch base and support each other during these challenging times. As a result I have a window into the lives of the three mothers on our team and I am in awe. They are working more intensely than ever, as many of us are. But on top of that, they are now homeschool teachers, short order cooks and home sanitation specialists without a single break. And when necessary they jump into the role of nurse with lightning speed.

As a result of the COVID19 crisis, we are finally recognizing and applauding essential workers who have long been overlooked and taken for granted. We could not survive the current situation without them.

But let's not forget to applaud the most essential of essential workers, those ladies who are on call 24/7, who never get a day off: the mothers in our world. And to the Mothers of All Mothers, the Working Women Working from Home, I am sending huge virtual hugs, lots of applause and a cacophony of pot banging from my home to yours. You rock our world!