Mama got naked...

Miracles do happen, mama got naked and no one fainted, ran-away, passed-out or best of all even looked. I was naked for a total of eight hours and survived.

It all started about a month ago when my "baby daddy" gave his mother a day at the spa for her 60th birthday gift, also including in the gift package that she could take along a friend. Maybe out of politeness or maybe just plain torture (she is my mother-in-law so you never know), I was asked to go along for the relaxing day at the spa. And not just any spa, but the Naked Spa! The spa where bathing suits are forbidden, not allowed, prohibited...flesh only. And that was what freaked me out the most... because at the time this mama had a lot of flesh!

So the day finally came and I was in the "un-dressing" room getting ready to take one of the bravest steps in my life when I realized I had a saving grace...my C-section scar. If I felt intimidated by these European skinny beanpoles, I would just lift up my belly "roll" and flash my battle scar. Then hopefully they would think to themselves, "Oh she just had a baby...well then she looks great to have just had a baby."

But the moment of truth came when I had to ditch the robe at our first stop, the wet sauna. I hung the robe up faster than the speed of light and sprinted to the sauna like a hunted deer. Once safely inside the steamy refuge, I was able to let out a deep sigh of relief. I made it...I am naked in a spa...

With each new bath, sauna and whirlpool it became easier and easier to bear it all and by the time we went to the outdoor baths, I was ripping off my towel like a super model on a photo shoot.

Looking back, eight hours in my birthday suit made me realize I had nothing to be ashamed of. I had a beautiful body, with lumps, humps and scars...I was a real woman who has lived life with no regrets. I was a mother at the spa enjoying a well deserved day of rest and relaxation...I was just a mother naked at the spa and I liked it!

Mama vs. Mama

It was a very rare occasion the other day, when the kids forgot they had a mother to torture, that I was able to watch an episode of Dr Phil. The show was about child abuse and they had this poor mother of a very troubled and behavior problem ridden child on. First she told her story, then Dr Phil showed a clip of her carry out the various punishments she tried to correct him from his problem behavior. She washed his mouth out with soap, made him eat hot sauce and stand against a wall. All the time I was watching this I was thinking poor mother, she wants to help this child so badly, she wants him to just behave...

Then came the audience reaction. The audience was full of mothers and they were out to crucify this lady. They judged her like it was the Salem and she was the mother of all witches. They called her an abuser and they were all appalled at her tactics.

To be honest, I had to turn it off at that point. The mother just sat there on stage, all alone, probably pretty much like she does everyday. All alone, just trying to help her child, to teach him the best way she knew how. It was so disheartening for me to see all these mothers turn against a fellow mother. As a mother, you know what all other mothers go through: the love, the joy, the ups, the downs but most of all the hardships.

And more often than not we mothers are all alone during these hardships...all alone on the battlefields of raising a child. So why aren't we mothers banding together to form an alliance, an army, a union, to ensure that we support each other in good times and especially the bad for the greater good of raising our children to make this world a better place?

The first lesson I learned as a mother was not to judge other mothers. No one is perfect and we shouldn't try to give this false example to our children. We are human. We are women. We are mothers...

Besides, many of us got a taste of the soap or a taste of the hot sauce and lived to tell...I sure did!