The Year You Were Born

“The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new.” ~Rajneesh

I am celebrating my fourteenth Mother’s Day this weekend. I was discharged from hospital on Mother’s Day 1994 with a baby daughter, a set of sore tatas and a throbbing suture line you know where. While I wondered that day what I had gotten myself into, the following 14 years have proven to be the happiest years of my life.

As I reflect back on 1994, I thought I’d throw some of the events that intrigued, enraged, amused and inspired me into Dumbledore’s pensieve to share with my daughter Hilary.

1994-What was happening in the world the year you were born:

· The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect.
· Jean Crouton as we call him was Prime Minister of Canada.
· Bob Rae was Premier of Ontario.
· The 1994 Winter Olympics were held in Lillehammer.
· Figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the right leg by an assailant under orders from figure skating rival Tonya Harding's ex-husband. Tonya Harding was banned from the sport and Nancy Kerrigan went on to win a silver medal at the 94 Winter Olympics.
· Lorena Bobbitt was found not guilty by reason of insanity on charges of bopping off her husband, John Wayne’s bobbitt. They actually retrieved his bobbitt, secured it in the zip lock bag and sewed it back on.
· The Church of England ordained its first female priests.
· Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundi President Cyprien Ntaryamira died when a missile shot down their jet near Kigali, Rwanda. The Rwandan Genocide began shortly after in Kigali. Don’t let history repeat itself.
· Kurt Cobain, lead singer of Nirvana, was found dead. It is believed to be suicide.
· Former United States President Richard Nixon died.
· Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis died.

· South Africa held its first fully multiracial elections. Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as South Africa's first Black president. Learn about and from Nelson Mandela. You will be a better person for it.
· Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were murdered. NFL star O.J. Simpson and his friend flee from police in his white Ford Bronco. The famous low speed chase unfolded live on television and ended at Simpson’s house where he then surrendered to police. The Bronco chase was recreated in Shrek 2.
· Israel and Jordan signed the Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace, which formally ended the state of war that existed between the nations since 1948.
· The Irish Republican Army (IRA) announced a "complete cessation of military operations."
· The sitcom Friends premiered on NBC. Thursday nights were booked for years to come.
· The web browser Netscape Navigator 1.0 was released.
· Boris Yeltsin ordered troops into Chechnya. Another lesson from history to never repeat.
· The Nobel Peace prize went to Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, and, Yitzhak Rabin. I have never been able reconcile in my mind why Yasser Arafat got a Nobel Peace prize.
· Hilary Carragh was born. My greatest inspiration.

My motherhood journey has experienced cuts, bruises, bumps, sutures, a broken arm, a peanut allergy, episodes of anaphylactic shock, bags and bags of Epi-pens, school musicals, and theatre productions. We travelled gloriously through station 9 3/4 in the 7 Harry Potter books. The childhood years together were magical.

Hilary is heading to high school to find her art in September. The next several years will prove interesting as she crosses the chasm between adolescence and adulthood. I know we will survive. My mother and I did.

I thank Hilary for making motherhood fun. I wouldn’t have done it without her. I leave you with the lullaby that I had to sing to her every night when she was young.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQfNfJSRajA

“Your life is an occasion. Rise to it.”...Mr. Magorium.

Happy Mother's Day!