“It’s a boy.” Not a new little one, but a memory from the past when in that darkened room they asked us if we wanted to know. My husband without hesitation said yes, and so on that day, I was born as a boy mom. I am not young in years for having children, and initially chosen to focus on college and then law school and then received several professional accolades and certificates and run as an elected official before this child of mine made me a mother to a son. He changed my world and made me better and these days of such unknown and cloistered existence have enhanced our relationship. For school has ended for the year, so early and without a farewell and I have picked up the papers and we now sit as a classroom of two as his joy easily hides my concerns. We have changed so much and so quickly that I marvel at how quickly the world as a whole can adapt to the needs of basic humanity.
When I had a son as a lot of women do, we are unsure of what life holds for us. We know what we did as children and what toys held joy and we sometimes understood other interests. I was blessed with a brother who was kind and my friend and a father who was prominent and entertained and so I understood male figures, but to raise one is a mystery that only time can unfold. The day I went into labor I told my husband I was being admitted but not rush, so he took this to heart and went to lunch and watched the NCAA Championship parade and then arrived at my bedside in the early afternoon. I understood, but at the same time I knew only I could have this child and I would handle this. My brother-in-law later called me the Michael Jordon of having a child. I sipped on ice and became lasting friends with the nurses in the room and I had my son after 36 hours. It was a big room with a lot of my family and nurses and my doctor all who knew each other in good spirits as if it was a family get together for a child that was waiting to be born.
I am the mother of a boy who has lived through a lot of his various hats I have worn in his little life. For I am a lawyer, a writer, a political worker, and was sworn in as an elected official twice in an interesting election, once when he was in m womb and again when he was two months old. He lived through me working late hours and early mornings and he never made me doubt the love he held for me. This time, however, had changed our dynamic and my little one quickly becomes part of a protected circle. For as children were ordered to be sheltered at home and parents there to protect if they could, there was a new type of child and a new type of parent being born out of necessity.
So here I am the mother of a young son and it is a small group he has surrounding him to nurture him at the moment. We try to find our quiet peace and speak simply about the sickness of some of the world and then in grand detail about what plans we have for the day. His priorities are mine, so if a train must be built, then I will lead the track ahead. We give each other importance and time together and time alone to learn more about each other with each day that is given. Still, I wake with the sun, and in the early hours when he calls out for me each morning with eyes still looking dreamlike and his pajamas still long enough to gently trail behind, he always finds my presence in quiet quick steps. With his arms already waiting to be picked up he hugs me as comfort before speaking his good morning in his gentle tone and we speak aloud our thoughts and I learn with each day how blessed I am to the mother of a son.