May | mother mother
It’s May, a glorious month in my own opinion. Just four days into this month, I entered the world, and we celebrate birthdays in this house whether you’re turning five or ninety-five. My grandmother turned 95 years young last month. She got all dressed up, applied her make-up, and demanded a party and a cake. We’d be damned if we didn’t give this queen what she asked for. In fact, we had two cakes. If you don’t celebrate the way this woman celebrates, you’re doing it wrong, my friend.
ABOVE | Lawrence Aritao @lawaritao
I’ve been a bit introspective this month, or just lately really. I was thinking about mothering, not from a parental perspective, but from a more universal and figurative place. No matter how we identify or define our place, we all have an earthy mother in us. We’ve got feminine energy and masculine energy. We’ve got ebbs and flows with nature versus nurture. We’ve got a DNA-like connection to our Mother Earth and all her glory and brilliance. We’ve got contrasting personalities that push and pull with the days and lead us to perform the innate tasks that tend to naturally pour out of us when we are called into action, the same way a mother is called upon by little cries during the night.
This might appear in the way one intuitively treats the scraped knee of our little humans, the method in which we plate our food, the methodical discernment on how we decide which coffee cup fits the heart today, the patience expelled waiting for roots to take as you nurture your garden, or the way we simply exist in the curated spaces we call home. I believe we’ve all got an inherent and ingrained mother-like existence in ourselves. I’d like to think about this both subjectively or objectively really. Many of us are, by biological or adoptive definitions, mothers and fathers. But I’d like to believe that we all call upon our mothers in a more symbolic way.
With the symbolism that May often brings with spring and new seasons, I hope you find that humbling sense of belonging within you as you make your way through the fifth month of this year! You are so loved, my dear.
xx,
H
