As a mother of two beautiful, healthy and wonderful children I am bitter that on this day there are mothers who are not as lucky as I am. I am bitter that on this day intended for joy and celebration there are countless women who grieve, and for whom this day is a painful reminder of the possibilities that have been forever taken from them. I am bitter that these women may never know the joy of being grandmothers, or if they are grandmothers already, they must endure for the rest of their lives seeing the sorrow in the eyes of their grandchildren caused by a loss that will haunt them forever.
Today while I give thanks for the joy that my children have brought to my life, I will also think of and pray for those mothers who acknowledge this day by visiting graves, by looking at pictures of lives that have faded, and whose personal devastation the rest of us can only begin to imagine.
While I will not let my bitterness spoil this special and beautiful day, bitter I am and bitter I will be until this insane war is put to an end.
On behalf of the mothers who cry this day, I will be bitter.