A Mother's Love
Phaedra shares her thoughts on all the mother-related issues from this week's episode.
This week’s episode had several themes, but the one that was most poignant to me was the relationship that exists between mothers and daughters. That relationship undeniably starts during gestation and hopefully lasts a lifetime. As babies our mothers nurture us, as adolescents our mothers often annoy us, as women they guide and encourage us. Our youthful vision is often impaired when it comes to the value of our mothers. However a mother never loses sight of her purpose to protect, support, and nurture her child.
A mother daughter relationship is one of many peaks and valleys, yet through it all our mothers are often our strongest supporters and loudest cheerleaders. Like myself, all of my castmates are mothers. In this episode, Kim comforts her daughter Brielle as she expresses her skepticism towards their new addition to their family. Cynthia continues her struggle of balancing her husband and her family as she expresses her concern in a heart-to-heart conversation with her mother and sister. Kandi is finally able to speak with her Mama Joyce about the boundaries of their relationship as a mother and daughter as well as best friends, while Sheree grapples with whether or not she should pursue legal action to enforce her child support agreement. Whether we like it or not, our mothers serve as our support system; someone we can call for advice, affirmation, or consolation. Our mothers’ expectations set the bar for the standards we subscribe to in life and cascades over all we do often affirms us, and at other times it convicts us; but it’s always laced in our conscience. While we often have disagreements on the show, the one thing no one can ever dispute is how much we all love our children. Our children are among the richest colors in the fabric of our legacies. As Oliver Wendell Holmes said once, “Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall; a mother's secret hope outlives them all.” Don’t let the sun set without telling all the mothers in your life how important they are to your well-being and success.
