"Mom" By Any Definition of the Term

This week I worked at a social service outreach for those in need. 

Around 50 people showed up while I was there, individuals of all ages, shapes and sizes.

One woman who particularly caught my eye was young and neatly attired and she arrived with 5 children in tow.  

Like the mother, the kids, (ranging in age from 11 to 18 months) were neatly dressed and groomed.  They were  also impeccably behaved.

As I observed them, I noticed the youngest child would happily call out “Mama” as she climbed up and down from the young woman’s lap and caring  embrace. 

 At one point the young woman walked past me with the two youngest children. She nodded and we smiled. 

With the ice broken, I couldn’t help but ask  her how she managed 5 children and all they entail?

Her answer was simple.

“They aren’t all mine.”

For obvious reasons, I referenced the youngest child as her own.  Again a simple answer.

“No.”

But she calls you mom I returned.

“Oh yeah,” the woman answered with a shrug as the child again  called out to her, Mama, Mama.

As they walked away, I felt an incredible sadness for that child, and also for her birth mother. 

Although I guess if someone is raising a child, they are as much a mother as the woman who carries the child for nine months and then disengages to the point that the title “mama” becomes a matter of mistaken identity.