i've liked mary cassatt's mother's kiss since the first time i saw it way back in college in an aesthetics class. but the older i get the more this picture moves me on a deeply emotional level. it wasn't until i was a mother myself that i realized how true the picture is -- see how the baby with it's rolly polly belly looks like it just wants to get away? i love that! it hurts my heart because i know how the mother feels, but i hafta smile because i know it is all too true.
i'll never forget the day my firstborn, now ten, had to be cajoled into giving me a kiss:
give mommom a kiss.
no.
please?
no.
we can have ice cream.
okay. but just a little kiss.
i think i shall go and kiss the wee ones now. and cry because they're growing way too quickly.
I have no problem kissing my mother, and telling her I love her in front of my friends, and I'm 25. I think she's done alright with me.