Oma. Inay. Maman. Mutter. Mor. Mae. Mum. No matter the language or culture, the word “mother” has many subtle nuances and grander meanings.
History is rich with examples of heroic mothers and women who were not mothers per se, but conducted themselves in a manner befitting the role. Florence Nightingale charged out to the front lines of the Crimean War to tend to wounded and dying soldiers. There she brought many dying men their last moments of peace. She would be their last memory as they slipped into that long goodnight.
There is a house down the street—one in every neighbourhood—where it seems all of the friends of a daughter or a son flock after school, on weekends, or when times are tough at home. At the wheel of this ship is a woman who is mother not only to her own progeny, she’s mother to every young person who steps through the threshold into her home. No one ever leaves hungry, or lost. Everyone is given the opportunity to share what ails them, or speak their mind in a way that’s honest and true.
Tanya Donahue is a BC children’s author. In 2010, almost immediately following the massive earthquake in Haiti, she was on a plane hurtling toward what she would soon discover to be a devastation much worse than she could have imagined. There was work to do the moment she stepped from the plane. Donahue, a young mother with three children of her own, had a direct hand in helping to find hundreds of children who’d become separated from their families, or who’d tragically lost their parents to the tragedy.
There are Powell River mothers of historical significance. Bessie Banham who could bake a pie and shoot and skin a bear, possessed an unfaltering love for not only her own children, but for children within the community. Tla’amin Nation Elder Elsie Paul is a leader to children, to families, to the community at large. She has dedicated her life to the welfare and wellbeing of others, and she has been a long-time board member of TsowTunLeLum (Helping House), a healing program based in Nanaimo.
Mothers are the glue that holds families together. They preserve tradition and history. They often share knowledge passed down from generations of mothers who have gone before them. Mothers feed, nurture and provide fortitude to the up and coming, to send them out into the world where they will begin their adventures with a full belly and a happy heart.
Thanks for everything, mom.
