A reflection on Mother's Day, the month of May and how we should celebrate!
We are just over halfway into May and it is just so magnificent and beautiful that it is breathtaking. This magical time that is so short, that I just want to hold on to and enjoy in every way possible. It is as if the senses are overwhelmed and that I actually physically do not have time to take in everything that is happening in nature. It buds, grows, blooms, turns green, blooms over and withers over the course of a couple of weeks. The cherry trees that explode in their full splendor in what feels like a breath.
Closely followed by the lilacs that I love so dearly. The scent that is unlike anything else. Every time I pass a lilac bush somewhere I have to stop and inhale the scent deeply a few times as if to preserve it in my mind too. To save for the other days of the year.
I LOVE May! I sometimes wonder if the fact that I was born in May plays a role. That I feel so…taken…It's like all my normally quite sensitive touchpads become even more sensitive. The impressions crowd the space and the desire to create overflows. I also think that I have become good at enjoying the moments.
The presence.
I have the great privilege of living a life close to myself, my lust for life and creation. I never stress anymore. I own my time and I own my choices. Not everyone has it like that.
Being a mother can be stressful. It can often feel like you don't own your time or your choices at all. Having small children is anything but restful and stress-free. Perhaps it could be different in a world and a society that rested on different foundations than the one we live in now. Being a mother today means for many women to constantly push themselves to the limit. Being a mother is something that, in some way, should be done alongside everything else. Alongside making a career, or at least working a lot. Alongside creating and maintaining a home for the people who are part of the family. Taking care of most of what is included in maintaining it. Yes - recent research shows that there is still a very uneven distribution between men and women in the so-called housework. A mother should also (and usually does without even thinking about it herself) make sure that the little ones have everything they need. From the right kind of diaper just returned from the hospital to making sure the graduation cap is ordered in time for the spring break 19 years later. We just do it. And I love that we do it. I love that we love our children so much and with everything we are, that we just do it.
Being a mother is the best and most wonderful thing there is and the hardest and most difficult. It's not something that can be turned off when needed. A bit like what dads seem to be able to do. They can wholeheartedly go into something completely different most of the time and then there is no room to pack backpacks, keep track of schoolwork or understand love problems. Not to mention all the dads who leave one family to start another and then forget about the first one.
We mothers share consciousness with our children. The boundaries are blurred, for better or worse. We live their happiness and pain. And for that we should be celebrated - over and over again. Every day. Not one day a year but every day.
The Shop on the Mountain
For a couple of weeks now, together with my dear friend Anna Söderström, I have had a shop at Torekällbergets open-air museum in Södertälje. I am so incredibly happy about that and you can read more about it here!
It now gives me the opportunity to meet people again and I can offer my fabrics and interior design products without shipping. So if you want to celebrate Mother's Day on May 28th or any day, I warmly welcome you to the store to buy a nice gift for your mother (or someone else's mother!) Here you can find everything from linen fabric by the meter to small storage jars in cotton fabric, reversible and washable. Perfect for cotton balls or maybe crispbread!
From June 1st we are open every day 11-16. June is an intense month for many and so is Torekällberget. This is what is happening in June:
June 6 - National Day Celebration
June 10 - Blues picnic
June 16-18 - 19th century party in three days
June 23 - Midsummer celebration
We are open in the store during all the events and we will also have market tables out in the area. Good to know is that this year we have removed the entrance fee to Torekällberget so just come up to us at any time, look, squeeze and feel things and exchange a few words.
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All the best!
