A Gift Called Mother: Everyone has visions of the perfect life, perfect family and perfect children that they hope to raise when bringing him or her into this world. A world filled with so many different people, encounters, situations and conflicts that no matter how hard we try not everything will go according to plan.
Every architect creates a blueprint when planning to create or construct a building, home, office or any structure. They review, revise and recreate the structure or building within their mind and then on the blueprint many times before the final plans are presented to the home or business owner and even then changes might still be made.
Mother: what a precious and special word. More valuable than the Hope Diamond and more precious than the most expensive fur as our author relates a story about her life raising her children, handling their good times and bad, understanding their differences and hoping to never lose that special bond that all mothers have with their children. Love means never giving up on your children no matter what.
I was never blessed with my own children but I am what you would call a mother/aunt to my nieces and nephews. So, I do understand what Sherlyn explains as she takes the reader on a journey of her family’s life from the time her children were born until the present and the journey is far from over. A Gift Called: Mother by Sherlyn Powell. This book is truly a gift to all readers and you definitely want to read her story as you hear her voice, feel her pain, cry along with her, wipe her tears and watch her stand tall and embrace life.
Sherlyn was blessed with two children. Her daughter was born in 1981, intelligent, smart and definitely musically inclined which she states she got from her father. After several miscarriages, she has a son in 1981 and her world and family are complete and she is totally elated and blessed. Never once taking her life or family for granted she shares her children’s first moments, their early years and then their adulthood. But, not everything runs smoothly and all too often we blame ourselves when something goes wrong. We question our actions, non-actions, and motives and often blame ourselves for our children’s downfalls or defeats.
Miscommunication can destroy everything. Stubbornness, hardnosedness, and self-pity can destroy a bond. Imagine pulling the ends of a rubber band and having it snap in two right in your hands. Imagine a fragile piece of glass that you hold dear falling to the ground in pieces. Imagine that this piece of glass was something so precious to you that you never fully recovered from losing it. Things can be replaced no matter what.
The love of a mother is more valuable and precious and when Sherlyn and her daughter had a falling out what she describes and shares with the reader will bring tears to your eyes, heartbreak to your soul and fear in your heart because it could happen to you. Stress can play havoc on the mind and body of anyone. Her daughter’s stressful job, working more hours and being pregnant seems to set off a chain of events that would devastate the author for a long time and cause her to lose touch with her precious child for too long.
Holidays passed and no phone calls or communication. Days went by and she realized that something was really causing this rift but her daughter did not impart what, communicate and even worse she could not see her grandson. That was equally as hard to bear as not hearing from her for so long. Then, the worst happened. She moved and she did not know where she was and even though her son was quite near and close things were really coming apart for our author and mother. Added to that her son joined the military keeping him away for long periods of time and holidays, her daughter requested that he come and be with her when her second child was born which as she brilliantly states: “Was like a knife cutting deep in my heart.”
Life takes its toll on many of us and although her daughter was very much alive it was as if she lost her but in a different way. Unable to eat, not caring for her health she needed to count on her faith in God to live, rise up against the pain and hope that he would hear her prayers and bring her daughter back to her. Teaching her children to have faith and believe in themselves and follow their hopes and dreams. What the author relates is a real-life story that will help other mothers, grandparents, foster parents, aunts and uncles understand. Bringing up children whether your own, foster or adopted is not easy. Instilling values in them and teaching them what you hope they will learn to succeed in life is all you can hope for and desire. Learn how with her prayers to God and her faith she was able to rebuild her family. You need to take the journey along with Sherlyn to learn just how they managed to rekindle their relationship and love.
My mom and I had a great bond and she created her own map or highway she wanted me to follow. Everyone has his or her ups and downs but when I realized that what she wanted for me was exactly what I needed and wanted all along I knew the right path to follow. Sherlyn’s writing is what kept up going and I am glad that she decided to share this thought-provoking, outstanding, and definitely important story with everyone. Everyone has a mother. Not everyone deserves to be called that we know. Sherlyn reminds everyone that if you are blessed and fortunate to be a mother you have received the most precious gift God’s gifts.
Being a mother does not come with a manual, driving instruction, table of contents to follow or pay. It comes with joy, pain, laughter, tears, heartache, rewards and tons of love and hugs. It’s okay not to hug your child in public when you think they might be embarrassed or they are with their friends. But, in my family to this day when you enter a family member’s home, you have to hug and kiss everyone and say a proper hello to everyone present. To Sherlyn: In case you have not been told: We all love you and hold you, dear. Thank you for sharing your story with me and with everyone and thank you for the honor you gave me in this book. From the author of Captive Hearts, Secret Affair and Something Desirable comes A Gift Called Mother: The Stages and Fantasies of Motherhood.
I dedicate this review to the memory of my mom who just passed away and to everyone who has the gift of being called Mother.
