Hey GIRL (that’s you, our Grace In the Race Ladies):
Happy Labor Day!
Labor Day was first celebrated on September 5, 1882, to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United States, according to Wikipedia. I had to look it up – the date and the formal description.
A far cry from 1882, the general vibe of Labor Day in the twenty-first century is more about the weekend, the final celebration of summer, and a “day-off” on Monday.
2020, however, has given us pause around the subject of labor; a topic that has cultivated divisiveness throughout the nation. We’ve experienced a country-wide shut-down of most businesses and added to our vernacular a new genre of laborer therein, the essential worker. We are grateful for the essential workers who’ve braved the front-lines for 6 months now, and for our intents and purposes here today, we’d like to honor and recognize a group of essential workers that doesn’t get much press… YOU, the mamas.
Motherhood is the quintessential “labor movement”… quite literally, in fact. It’s arguably the most rewarding career out there, yet equally the most challenging.
It starts (for most) with a physical test that is littered with guest appearances by “mental and emotional tests”. We call the first phase pregnancy, it culminates with LABOR and ultimately delivery and then you get your first promotion.
You’re handed a naked, screaming baby then lauded with congratulations and ushered out the door; ALWAYS without an instruction manual. It’s an often thankless job, oh, and read the fine print: there’s no paycheck. Yet, the value of what you will contribute to rearing your small humans is PRICELESS!
Writing this editorial took me back to a piece I wrote for our blog, Grace Stories about six months ago called Who Needs Grace in the Race. It’s comforting to know that it still aligns with the trajectory of this passion project that is Grace in the Race. However, it led me to appreciate, more than ever, our NEW MotherHood community.
What a beautiful opportunity we have to write the aforementioned “instruction manual” together. The work we will do in The Grace Experiment will provide us a forum to learn and grow as a collective, no matter where we are in the process of parenting – or how we came to it: through pregnancy, adoption, as step-moms, or the plethora of other means. Amanda and I will provide resources and support but we’ll lean into the entire community to bring new ideas, unique perspectives, and suggestions to the struggles of our fellow mamas.
We all gain experience and expertise, but we never stop learning and growing as mothers. Even once our nests are empty, we’ll always be on duty; we’ll always be “there” when we’re needed. See, the sooner we learn to do this job with grace, the longer we’ll have to truly enjoy this labor of love we call motherhood!
And, because we know our moms are reading this, it feels right to give a shout out to the Lindas… Thank you for continuing to be there for us by simply being here today, reading this newsletter, and cheering us on from afar with your love and support!
With hope and some good experimenting, we’ll ALL be the moms who get thank yous from our forty-something children someday.
Thank you ALL for being here today. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and may it kick-off an extraordinary week!
Love & Grace,
Rachel (& Amanda)
Co-founders of Grace in the Race, LLC
Just Imagine!