Mothers

by Marlon

Mothers 25-45 years old from the broad C and D segments. She does everything in her power to keep her family healthy. Being healthy is not getting sick and not being sick is a primary assurance that everyone is productive. How her children turn out reflects on who she is. I am confronted with broad stroke information come planning time. The information is deepened further with verbatims from one-on-one interviews and consumer journey studies. The math looks good but I worry about the subjects of our calculation.

I always wonder about the internal life of mothers. I'm worried if there's a woman trapped inside the role. When she makes a mental note of unfinished chores does she add all her unfinished dreams, her suspended life. I'm sure a lot of women dream of becoming mothers and I am sure that a lot of mothers have grown perfectly into who they have become. But do some of them feel that they have taken a road far from their imagined selves? Did the joy they feel when they held us for the first time burn all the bridges leading to regret? Up until college, I never saw the woman inside my mother. Then my parents separated. My mother became a stranger. She constantly reassured us that nothing has changed, that we are her children forever. She is not separating from us, only from my father. I didn't believe her, I was hurt. I didn't want change. I didn't want her to change. A few years later, I was suddenly struck by an image of my mother as a young woman. She played the piano. She was not my mother then. She was a woman separate and valid. Since then I wondered about the woman living inside my mother. My mother loves me for sure and I am sure now that the woman inside her loved what she has become. I hope someday I will also meet that woman.