thoughts on mothering

with huge respect to my beautiful children without whom I would not have had this joy filled, rewarding, humbling and sometimes painful job:
from Deborah Tannen's book, You're Wearing THAT?, Understanding Mothers and Daughters in Conversation,
"The term 'mother' implies a companion term, 'child'.One of the oddest aspects of a mother's job description is that, once hired, she cannot be fired. She's stuck in this job for the rest of her life - like it or not (though, happily, most -including this blogger- do like it). One woman I spoke to whose daughers are entering middle age explained how this aspect of the job surprised her: "Most young mothers think that there's a time frame on mothering, that at certain age your kids are launched. My friends and I often laugh about this. Your relationships are interlaced all your lives.
But to say that your lives are interlaced forever is not to say that the forms those connections take are constant. Perhaps the hardest part of this overwhelming job is that it constantly changes. Adjusting to these changes, for both mother and daughter, is a challenge of this complex lifelong relationship."