A Mother’s Love, A Gift of Hope

Karma led me to this beautiful image by artist Mista Whitson. Take a moment to visit her online gallery by clicking on the photo.

Today is  my first-born son’s 28th birthday. Like today, he was born on the Friday after Thanksgiving and since that time the holiday season has  been a complicated juggling act that seemed to go on endlessly. It’s a hectic time of year for all of us. His unexpected (2 weeks early), but perfectly timed birth has given me an especially good reminder each year, to take a moment to be thankful for my children and all that they have brought to my life. The challenges have made me stronger and wiser, the unexpected pleasures have brought me joy and gratitude. While I may not have always been the best of mothers, I am a better person because they came into my life. They have not only filled my life with love, but more importantly have filled it with hope.

Today we usher in a season of hope. It is also a time of year when many feel utterly hopeless. You may be there now. I hope not, but if you are be assured that you are not alone and that most of us have been there at least once and some many, many times too. It’s hard to live a half a century and not know despair.  In our dark moments it is difficult to find the light, the hope, the will we need to make it through, but the human spirit is strong. It pushes and drives us relentlessly until we find our way clear and while painful and exhausting, it is something for which we should be grateful. In our happy, safe and secure moments, let us take a moment to reach out to someone in despair; to offer them a helping hand or a kind word. Sometimes a smile can make all the difference.

Many small business owners are struggling this time of year. I remember many a year when we didn’t know until the day before Christmas whether we’d have the money to buy our children gifts, and there was rarely enough for giving beyond.  Most years we were able to do something, but on more than one occasion we had to postpone. I fight every year to keep myself in a positive frame of mind. If we give into despair when we look around at the “seeming” abundance this time of year, and I certainly have,  we are giving into a lie, a fantasy, the antithesis of what the season represents. Abundance is not a thing we hold in our hand. It’s a thing we hold in our hearts. I feel far richer when I  wake up in the morning with hope in my heart than I every would surrounded by things. I encourage you to support small businesses this holiday season, as much for the hope you will give to the owner as for the dollar you will put in their pocket.

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I have been a small business owner most of my life, and my heart and support goes out to the many, many small business owners, particularly at this time of year. They are the backbone of this country and an important ingredient to our country’s economic recovery and viability.

For some small businesses, the holiday season is the slowest and most challenging time of the year. It always has been for us. For others it is the season that keeps them afloat throughout the year. Either way, small businesses always appreciated your support, particularly during November and December.

Over the next couple of weeks, I will be posting links to some of the small online businesses that are owned and operated by women (and a few men) over fifty. I hope you will take this opportunity to visit some of these websites and read a little a bit about what they do and maybe more importantly why they do it. Many have a mission. Most have a hope and a dream to in some small way make the world a better place. Thank you for indulging me in this endeavor. As always, I appreciate your feedback.