Heather Griffiths Archives - Mothering in the Middle

My Father By Any Other Name…

by Heather Griffiths

It doesn’t matter who your father was; it matters who I remember he was – Anne Sexton

What or rather who is a father? If you grew up in a Norman Rockwell painting, a father is depicted as someone who is there for you – supportive and attentive in every way; the “rule setter” – the stern but loving man who helped guide you into adulthood. The man who would give you away on your wedding day to the person you love.

For me, I grew up in a single-parent household with my mother and sisters. The person I knew to be my father was unsupportive – a staunch alcoholic rule-breaker in every sense of the word. Still, to this day, he has no idea when my birthday is. Yet, as a child he was my father. I grew up learning that I should love him and respect him, regardless. […]

Having Faith as a Mother

by Heather Griffiths

Lately, I’ve found myself internally struggling with the same two questions: “Is motherhood all that I dreamed it would be?” Yes, and then some! “Did I ever imagine, in a million years, I would feel as blessed and as challenged as I do now?”– No, never!

This year, I have experienced more challenges as a mother than I ever have in the past. For example, in the past three days I’ve gone from the exhilaratingly proud moments where my son sings out his praise to God unabashed and passionately on the school’s stage to frustration and defeat when he is in the throes of a temper tantrum of epic proportions. […]

Doubt is Doubt – Even to us Babies (The “what-if’s” of an under-40 mother)

by Heather Griffiths

At the age of 30 I had my son; my daughter at 32. YES, Yes… I know – I’m a baby by most of your standards at the not so “tender” age of 35, and not officially a midlife mother. You see, by my family’s track record, my two older sisters were working on kids # 2 and 3 respectively by the time they were 25, so for me I thought waiting until I was 30 was waiting. Looking back now I see that I naively thought I had everything together. But, I am still racked with self doubt and the simple question of “What if” and the not so simple answers it often conjures. […]