Mother’s Day is not solely a “day occasion” to honor our mothers, but the opportunity to devote a number of days to celebrate our beloved mothers and those in our community who may not have had children, yet have served their families and communities as mothers. I share several of my Mother’s Day activities to invite you to do yours.
This morning, I committed a few moments to meditate on my Mama Tita. Her spirit smiled on me saying “recuerda que Dios es Amor (remember that God is love). I sent back to her my gratitude for all the love she showed me, my brothers and all people. I reminded her that I continue her legacy by living radical love and teaching porvida wisdom.
Last week, I presented my first formal webinar. To honor our mothers I provided a workshop for Santa Barbara Latino parents on practices to make our families stronger. The result is more than a dozen mothers will be introducing the “porvida stone” to their families this Mother’s Day as a tradition to facilitate meaningful family conversations.
Tomorrow, Mother’s Day, I will facilitate the first Zoom family reunion of my wife’s Mendoza familia. Living in California my wife very much misses all her brothers and sisters living in Topeka, Kansas. Offering to help organize this gathering is part of my gift to my wife, yet also to all the mothers in her family and especially her older sister. While not having children, I greatly respect how Rita has been like the caring mother to all the family siblings and their children. Central to our video-conference-call gathering will the opportunity for all of us to share appreciation words to her.
Tomorrow will also include a surprise Zoom call involving our daughters to provide them the opportunity to extend their gratitude to their mom and for Rebeca to share what motherhood means to her.
Mothers’ Day also reminds me of the relationship and responsibility I have to our Mother Earth and to continue seeking to be “un hombre noble”, a man that lives respectful of others, particularly our women. Consequently, I plan to spend some time in our gardens today caring for Mother Earth. I have already begun my self-reflection, identifying ways I can increase support for my wife and be more fair regarding household chores.
All these activities are reflective of porvida living—mindfully seeking to live love and respect with all my relations.
Porvida 