What Mothers Look Like by the End of Summer Vacation

What Mothers Look Like by the End of Summer Vacation

Even if I didn’t know the date, I would know we are in the home stretch of summer vacation just from seeing the worn out faces and tired eyes of mothers across Jerusalem.

This morning I was walking along the street with 20-month-old Yonatan, when I found myself walking right behind one of those mothers with three young kids: a newborn in her carriage, a 2-year-old girl riding on the back of her carriage, and a 4-year-old son walking beside her carriage.

Right after we crossed the street, the 2-year-old daughter, for some reason, got off the back of the carriage and sat down on the ground. “Chana, chana, sweety, get back on the carriage,” the mother pleaded with remarkable calm, “We have to get to the supermarket, just a little bit further.”

And at that moment I saw an unusual sight headed our way– an apparent Olympic-hopeful sprinting towards us in a short tank-top revealing her deeply-tanned and 6-pack muscular abdomen.

I couldn’t help but think of the contrast between us mothers shlepping along with our kids– at the end of vacation and at the end of our rope–vs. the sprinting woman with the 6-pack.

And then I thought of us worn-out mothers and thought of all the muscles we are building during this long summer with our children.

Not in our abdomens (which we should, by the way, preferably keep covered for modesty’s sake, as well as other reasons…) but in our hearts and souls which are, slowly but surely, becoming greater than ever before.

3 comments

  1. Hashem yireh lalevav. When all is said and done, it will not be about a 6-pack appearance, but rather the condition of the heart. The heart is exercised through difficult times, as we look to Hashem to find the right way through. “My flesh and my heart fail; but Hashem is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” From Psalm 73. May He strengthen your hearts, Jewish moms!

  2. Thank you Chana Jenny, this was beautiful!! And if we look deeply, we can probably see so much positive to having all our kids all around all the time too!

  3. I am exhausted but we should cherish those hours spent With our little and not so little Ones! Time together is precious since it doesnt last!

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