Thankfulness

I have this image taped to my kitchen window above the sink. I spend quite a bit of time looking at this young mother while I do the dishes (no dishwasher, you know, so I have plenty of time to do that). Looking at the hurt and concern on her face, I always want to reach through the picture and just hold her.

The photograph was taken by Dorothea Lange in 1937 to document the effect the great depression was having on many of the poor, and it is just one of six that she took of this woman and her family. I always wonder what that momma is thinking and how she must be sick with worry over the health and well being of her children.

This photo has been plastered in nearly every history book from grade school to high school and beyond, but it never occurred to me to notice it until I became a mother. In this photo, we are the same age. She is with three of her seven children. They are all starving.

For me, she represents women all over the world, all throughout history who wonder, and have wondered, how they will feed their children and keep them safe. Every time I find myself ready to complain about, well, not having a dishwasher for example, or the dog hair on the floor, or too much laundry piling up, I can look at this woman and silence those thoughts. I have so much to be thankful for.

She inspires me day after day and she encourages me to give thanks for all the good things in my life.