Sunday, August 2, 2009

Earth Mother

Claire: "Mom, when I grow up, I don't want to be an earth mother. I want someone to give me a baby."

Me: [after much laughing] "Claire, you mean birth mother, not earth mother. And I thought you had decided you didn't want to raise any babies?"

Claire: "I don't want to have any babies. I want someone to give me a baby. I do NOT want to have wires in me at the hospital." [Claire's main memory of the birth of the twins was that mommy was hooked up to an IV and it scared her]

Me: "Well, whatever you decide some day, I will be happy for you."

And I will. And although Claire used the wrong term, I rather like the idea of birth mothers being referred to as earth mothers - it definitely infuses the right sense of nobility into a woman who is strong enough to give her child to a family desperate for that baby. Maybe Claire has hit upon something here with her accidental moniker.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think Claire is right on. But if the birth mother is an earth mother, does that make the adoptive mother celestial? If so, I'd feel a lot better knowing I was heavenly and divine on days when my reaction to my children's latest coup attempts are far from star quality.