To Leave and to Cleave..

I've been off commission from writing for about a week now and I have important reasons: We are in the process of bringing my mother to live with us all the way from Colombia, South America. This process has not been without obstacles, between documents that need to be resubmitted to Express mail that needs to be delivered the road has been anything but smooth. But we are convinced that it's God's time for this to happen and it will come to pass when He wants it.

In the meantime, the wait is long and full of impatience, I can't stop daydreaming of what is ahead. For eleven years now, I have lived away from my mother, raising my family, giving birth to my children all without her, I guess that when I pledged to leave and to cleave on my wedding day, God took me upon it and send me on this journey of life with my new family, stripping me off every possible hint of dependency.

You see, growing up I was the oldest of my siblings, I was the child that was always very attached to mom; I used to sleep in my mom's bed (when I could) all the way to high school, we would have this long conversations and laugh till we dropped, I use to comply with her wishes better than my sisters did and she was so loving to us I never imagine to live away from her ever in a hundred years. Then I met my husband who lived in the states, we married and moved here.

The first year was really hard for me, but I adapted, however the absence of mom was always a sad reminder of what was left behind. Not being able to share the happiest moments of my life with her was unbearable to me, many times I questioned the reasoning behind our separation and it wasn't until many years later that it came to me that God had a purpose for it all.

I needed to be on my own, I needed to experience life for myself and taste my own tears. Mom is a born servant, she would have taken over my duties in an instant, she would have probably helped me in every way she could and I would not have developed the tough skin of motherhood that I was able to acquire without her presence. I would have continued to be a child, I would not be the woman that I am today.

I believe though, that this is the time God has selected for us to be reunited, for her to enjoy her six grandchildren. As I anticipate her coming here, many memories come to my mind, how she as a single mom was an example of courage, hard work and service to others for my sisters and I. My favorite memory is the fact that my mother always believed in me, she encouraged me to reach the sky, I never heard a negative remark or criticism from her, she gave me wings to fly, she delighted in me and I knew it. I guess that's what good mothers do. I'll be pleased if I could be half the woman she is... a true warrior.