If you know me, you know that I'm a pretty mild mannered, often reserved person. I'm pretty even keeled, and I usually don't let things get to me. I used to joke to my husband, Tremaine, that he was the only person that I was ever be mean to. That list has grown a little as I've gotten older, but I generally keep my feelings to myself and vent to Tremaine or my mom or sisters. However, I have an alter ego that you do not want to mess with! Her name is Mama Bear, and she can be ferocious! The only time that Mama Bear ever needs to make an appearance is when someone is threatening her cubs. Trust me, you do not want to be the object of Mama Bear's wrath. I don't know what it is, I guess it's that God given maternal fighting instinct, but I would walk through fire and do lots of generally out of character things for my sweet babies. I'm sure that most moms feel this way.
Mama Bear had to make a brief appearance this week. She was very polite and spent about two hours crafting a response to an offender to be sure that she was being nice, but deep down, she didn't want to be nice. She wanted to cry and kick and scream and pitch a good old fit. She was calm, though, because deep down, she knows that you can get much further with people by being nice. This is simply not her nature, though!
I once heard a mom of a special needs child say that she had to overcome her natural desire to be liked by everyone to get the services that her child needed. She went on to explain that sometimes she had to fight and she had to be the person that nobody wanted to see - again. I think that this applies to most moms, especially me. I analyze and overanalyze the words I choose, tone of voice, even the way that I am standing or holding my arms when I'm talking to someone (I'm sure that a lot of that comes from my background as a speech-language pathologist). Only about 10 percent of what you say is conveyed through your words. Body language, tone of voice, pitch, volume, etc. is what people really see and hear when you are communicating. I want to be liked and try to never come across as being not nice. However, something happens when you are fighting for your baby. All of that suddenly takes a backseat to the fight at hand.
I know that one day, my cubs will have to go out into the wild on their own and fight their own battles. But for now, Mama Bear is here and ready to fight (but only if necessary!).
