A Mother’s Day Gift to You: A Mother’s Time Capsule

By Beth Havey –

May is truly spring—and the perfect time to celebrate birth, new life and being a mom. The flowering trees shout out, celebrate! And many of us begin to think about the beginnings of the garden—what’s that old phrase, you can plant your veggies and annuals after Mother’s Day?

And for many of us, every day is a mother’s day, even when we are in our third stage. And to echo the spirit of Living Better at 50 – I want to share with you the fulfillment of one of my dreams, my first published book—A Mother’s Time Capsule —a collection of stories about motherhood.  

fall scents for your home

Since grade school, when my teacher congratulated me on a piece about a tornado, I have wanted to be a writer. The desire grew through years of education and teaching. But when I finally had two small daughters and a house to run, I realized I had ideas, feelings and experiences I wanted to put down on the page. It was a time when women’s magazines like Redbook and McCall’s were publishing short stories written by women. I could do this! So I set my desk in a corner of the den, bought a decent electric typewriter and before my children awoke each morning, squirreled away an hour to craft some stories.

The strength of my stories increased when I wrote about raising my children or the emotions and conflicts that I encountered in my own life and the lives of those in my community. The stories piled up and some of them made it into small magazines. But over time when I began to really look at them, I saw that they all dealt with some aspects of motherhood. My book was born.

A Mother’s Time Capsule takes you on a time-travel journey, some stories pulling you back in time, others taking you to a present place. Though the experience of pregnancy, birth, raising children and the empty nest has commonalities, there are many more variables. In these stories, mothers are married, divorced, aging, young, facing their fears and blinded to them. You’ll meet their children who struggle with responsibility, know the pain of an absent father, ruin the one opportunity to bond with an absent mother, go missing, attempt suicide and teach their parents that being fearful is not the way to live one’s life. There are mothers whose lives are welded to helping their children and mothers who must settle for only the memory of a child.

There are 13 stories in A Mother’s Time Capsule. Below are a few examples of what you will find:

FRAGILEIt’s a given that mothers worry about their children. But can a wife and mother who worries too much shape her own reality? In the story, a couple takes their young daughters, eight and four, on a camping trip and an accident occurs. My husband and I had two daughters those ages. I certainly had fears. As I wrote the story, my fears came onto the page and I worked through them, actually learning from my children.

ON THE CUSP: When we look at our adult children—working, traveling, raising their own children—it’s sometimes hard to believe they once relied on us for everything. Hopefully our parenting made a difference in their lives and of course we always learn something too. This story combines two incidents–one when my daughter was eight, the other about me in my empty-nest years. The message? All of us are guilty of not following through. In the story, Carrie pays the price for not being responsible, and her mother Kate realizes that life will be better if she follows through on a health issue.      

MAKING CHANGE: Motherhood totally changes the direction of a woman’s life, filling up the days and determining choices. The empty-nest years can offer shining promise, but they sometimes bring confusion, health challenges and regrets. Whether a woman has many children or just one, there will come a time when that child takes on an individual life and the mother’s trajectory changes. Even if a full-time job filled the mother’s life, the empty-nest years can bring about challenge.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to everyone! We all nurture and love someone and that is the definition of motherhood. I hope you enjoy A Mother’s Time Capsule and I welcome comments about the stories. I have also created a board on Pinterest with an illustration for each of the stories. You can find it here.

 

A Mother’s Time Capsule by Elizabeth A. Havey ebook and soft cover will be available at http://elizabethahavey.com You might want to share it with the mother in your life this Mother’s Day, May 10, 2015.

 

Boomer Highway: http://boomerhighway.org
Follow me on twitter: https://twitter.com/BoomerHighway

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

A Mother’s Day Gift to You: A Mother’s Time Capsule
Scroll to Top