The Dose of Reality – Terms of Endearment

I hate to do this to you all, but prepare yourselves for an ugly cry.

This amazing post was written by my good friend, Ashley, over at The Dose of Reality.  She just hits so many nails right on the head in this one, I had to share.  You’ll cry from the honesty and painful truth of how motherhood can make us feel at its high and low points.  Well, that, and the clip from the movie,”Terms of Endearment.”

Read the whole “Terms of Endearment” post on The Dose of Reality.

There is a scene at the end of the movie Terms of Endearment where Debra Winger is saying goodbye to her children in her hospital room. My mom and I used to have differing opinions over which part made us cry harder. For me, especially as a teenager, it was always Teddy with his broken face and the obvious heartbreak happening to him right in front of my eyes. For her though, it was Tommy, the older son, the one who was struggling to hold it all together and remain his defiant preteen self. He was trying not to cry and to show that he was just fine. It was what Debra Winger said to him that broke my mother’s heart. She told him that she wanted him to know, to really know in his heart, that she knew he loved her. She did not want him to be left with the guilt that so often settles into those left behind when they know they didn’t say it enough or show it enough, especially to their mothers. So she made sure, as mothers so often do, to be selfless in that moment, to comfort him, even if he did not think he needed her comfort. Because she knew he did and would.

Go now and read the whole post.  It’s beautiful.

Dammit, Ashley, now I have to go fix my eye make-up.  Oh wait, I’m a mom.  I don’t wear any.