We had a wonderful mother’s day celebration at our house Sunday.

My husband made french toast and sausages. My girls gave me cards they made at school and a beautiful potted orchid.

Our table was filled with mothers. My mother-in-law Betty came by with her good friend Harriet. My sister-in-law Jennifer, a new mother at 40, was there with one-month-old Abigail.

But as I looked around the table, I couldn’t help but think: What’s a mother, really, these days?

My husband, scurrying between the stove and the dining table with plates piled high with french toast, is a stay-at-home dad with Zoe, 4, and Maya, 2. So really, he’s a “mother.” My brother-in-law Alec, recently divorced, has his two young ones almost half the week, turning into essentially a single “mother” on those days.

We should have toasted them with our mimosas too.

But then what would we do on Father’s Day?

This entry was posted on Monday, May 12th, 2008 at 12:20 pm and is filed under Family Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.