Happy Mother’s Day

They lied to us, they did–Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem and all the others who told us back in the 60’s and 70’s that we could have it all. Or maybe they weren’t exactly lying to the impressionable girls graduating from high school and like me, beginning their college and subsequent careers as professionals in schools and fields once exclusively reserved for men.  Maybe they truly didn’t know the physical and emotional tolls our lofty goals would exact on ourselves, our marriages and our children.  We have come of age now, and we are tired.

To the stay at home moms, who ran the carpools, acted as room mothers, cheered at every Little League game and had a healthy dinner on the table at six pm, I salute you.  I was secretly envious of the time you were able to spend with your children.  You didn’t miss a thing in their lives, and if you were secretly envious of me—my financial independence, my ability to walk out the door in the morning and leave the chaos behind to enter the adult world where you could actually reason with people most of the time—I never knew it.

To my fellow female doctors, lawyers, business women, veterinarians and leaders in industry, I salute you also.  No matter how tired you were at the end of the day, you made time for your children—you rushed out of work to get to the ballet recital, you helped with their homework, you got down on the floor and you played games when your back hurt and your eyelids were closing as you read “Goodnight Moon” one more time.  You were consumed by guilt most of the time—at work when you felt you could not give it your all after a sleepless night, at home when your child called you by your caregiver’s name.

This Mother’s Day is my first without a mother—she passed away in January, having lived her life as the wife of a busy plastic surgeon—the endless nights of caring for three children while he was on call, the arguments over promised wealth as a private practitioner versus the academic life he chose, the pampered later years when she could and did have anything she wanted.  But when I was a sophomore in college, majoring in English, she took me aside and said, “You have to DO something!  Don’t be like me. You must choose a career where you never have to depend on anyone but yourself.”  I listened and went to medical school.  Forty years later, it was the right choice for me.

When I was a junior medical resident at Beth Israel Hospital, Betty Friedan’s daughter Emily was one of my medical students.  In a week, my own daughter graduates from medical school.  As my children grew up, I had only one bit of advice for them that I remember repeating like a mantra:  Whatever you do, wherever you go, at the end of the day, every day, be able to look in the mirror and feel good about yourself.

And don’t think it’s going to be easy.  Motherhood never is.  Happy Mother’s Day everyone!

9 comments

  1. Happy Mother’s Day to my sister — dedicated and tireless mother and wife,
    caring and gifted physician, devoted deerhound lover and inspiring blogger who despite all of the demands placed on her always had room for a hobby or two on the side! We all make choices and sacrifices and, in the end, hope to live up to our best potential and be a good role model for our children. I can say with certainty you have accomplished both. love, Pam

  2. I was also one of those that believed we could do it all! But in my case it was also necessary. As a single mom, there was no way out other than going to work and school at night to further my career. I still have regrets of leaving my daughter to someone other than me. Tried to do what I thought best for us, and did what I could…schools closer to my jobs so that I could be there in case of er’s and having afterschool programs at community centers next to the schools. Both of us tired would ride the Iron Horse home in the early evenings. And I relied on a group of friends and family that I could truly depend on. My life is more comfortable now and my daughter has her own family. With much love, she understands now the struggles and sent me a song today via Youtube…”I’ll Always Love My Mama”. Happy Mothers Day!

    1. Bea, thanks for your comments. We’d love to see your daughter’s YouTube video–send the link if you’re comfortable with that. M

  3. Happy Mothers Day Dr. M! You should be so proud of your wonderful children. You did good.
    Hugs from Texas.

  4. Ah, be it what it is…..I was the fortunate “stay at home mom” who envied and admired the working mother. My best friend, who is now a grandmother, still feels guilty about being a working mom, but her children turned out as well as mine.

  5. I realized somewhere along the way that I could not do it all. In fact, I sometimes don’t have the energy to work and live my life, which is why I’m so thrilled to now be semi-retired.

    I actually had a savings account that I built up so that I could have a baby, but I finally came to terms with the fact that I wouldn’t do it well by myself, so I bought a new car and went back to school. And those years that I spent getting into, through, and recovering from vet school were the years when I could have still had a baby. So it never happened.

    But I shall always be grateful that I went back to school and got a profession!

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