| My mother’s eyes were dark brown, so dark brown they were nearly black.
Her pupils seemed to melt into her irises. They were deep, penetrating eyes. In a glance, they could see beneath the surface. One look would stop a lie dead in its tracks. They were expressive, talkative eyes. Catch the gleam in them, and you’d soar knowing Mom was proud of you. But catch a hint of displeasure, and you’d be in tears instantly. They were truthful eyes. As Mom lay close to death, sometimes unable to speak, her eyes told me when she was weary, hurt, afraid. Such were my mother’s eyes. And such, I believe, are every mother’s eyes. In those first nine months of motherhood, while the baby is taking shape within, “mother eyes” take shape without. We start looking at life differently. We see dangers where they never were before--near an electrical outlet, under the sink, in the bathroom. We see fun where we forgot it was--on a swing in the park, in a jar of bubbles, under a blanket. By the time the baby arrives, our eyes have so changed that a screaming, red-blotched, shrivelled newborn is the most beautiful thing we’ve ever beheld. As the child grows, mother eyes behold many more things. We learn to see joy and sorrow. Happiness and disappointment. Truth and lies. But sometimes our eyes get too focused. A strong-willed child can so challenge us that we find it hard to see the good in him. And sometimes we look so hard to see what we want to see that we miss what is really there. At times like these we need to stop scrutinizing and just sit back to see the truth. This happened to me recently. I had been very focused on the needs of my oldest, Max. We’d been struggling with some issues in his life and it was getting to a point that when I looked at him, I couldn’t see any hope. Then one Sunday morning, Max was ironing his pants on the floor. Before he got up, he knelt beside Hallie, took her hand and gently patted it on the warm carpet. In that instance, I saw love and acceptance and hope. And I knew that his heart was right. I turned away. And wiped the tears from my mother eyes. |