By Shannon Williams
Mother’s Day has come and gone for the year. It is one of my favorite holidays. I don’t expect much and am not fond of being taken out to eat on such a busy day. I was treated to a hamburger and ice cream at the Dairy Queen in Winnie this year! We were both very tired from spending Saturday at the Crabfest, so I really wanted a low-key kind of day. I got lots of phone calls and text from friends and family, and most of all my sweet son sent special gifts, cards and several phone calls.

I am grateful to my own Mother and all she did for me and all she taught me, but Mother’s Day lets me celebrate the gift of becoming a mother. I was not one of those women who could get pregnant as soon as I wanted to. In fact, it took three years, several miscarriages and more money, that I even want to count, but right before Mother’s Day in 1991, I gave birth to a healthy baby boy!! It was a long journey in many ways. All of my Doctors were in Lubbock Texas and I lived 102 miles south of Lubbock, so it was a journey of many miles in many ways. We knew early on that it would not be easy, as my son’s father had a brain tumor in his early 20’s and they removed his pituitary gland, so that was a big barrier. It was soon discovered that I was not a fertile turtle, and thus began our quest to get a child from our bodies, both of which had some serious issues with fertility.

We had many doctors, treatments and failures. It was a very difficult time for us both and for our friends and families. To resolve some of the medical issues, both of us had to take hormones, talk about a moody household!!! We worked hard to keep the long-term goal and outcome in our minds and to deal with the effects of the medications we were both taking. At first, we shared every step of the journey with everyone, good thing Facebook was not around. As it seems like we would never have a baby, we got very private. People, trying to be helpful can often make very hurtful comments and really did not have any insight into what all we were doing. Remember this was the late 80’s and fertility treatments were new and very costly. One of the treatments we considered requires that we do publicity if a “live birth occurred”. We decided not to do that treatment. It turned out to be a good decision, as we divorced 10 years later and we would had to deal with the issue of frozen eggs. Divorce is hard enough without fighting over who owns eggs and sperm.

As it turns out, my picture was on the front page of the Lubbock newspaper that Mother’s Day. During my journey, I spend more than a few days in the hospital and since it was dealing with being pregnant, I was on the maternity floor. I got to know the nurses well and they had been so supportive of me. When a reporter came and said he wanted a picture of a new mother for the front page on Mothers Day, I agreed, so much for not wanting any publicity! Due to the medical issues I had, another child was not in the cards for me, but I have always been so grateful for the one that I did have, it was not an issue.

So, Mother’s Day means a great deal to me, without a doubt being a mother has been the best role of my life. I have made more mistakes in that role, cried many tears, happy and sad, but it has filled me with joy and love.

[May-11-2021]