Mother’s Day is just around the corner and I think it’s safe to say that it won’t be anything like previous years. There won’t be any handmade gifts coming from school, dinner at a favorite restaurant, or families gathering together to celebrate.
Come May 10th, we will still be fighting a pandemic that has flipped our normal upside down and twisted it inside out. (Thanks a lot corona).
While the rest of the world has stopped, mothers haven’t. Because we can’t.
We have to keep going. We have to keep our littles’ worlds turning. To maintain some sort of normal in a world that is anything but.
And in recognition of this, and mothers everywhere, Teleflora has released a new commercial for Mother’s Day, entitled “A Mother’s Love.”
And I’m warning you, grab some tissues. You’re going to need them.
It is a tribute to the other unsung hero…Mom.
The 1-minute 24-second video is a montage of user-generated content of moms balancing it all. Which let’s face it, is nothing new.
However, these real-life snippets are showcasing moms navigating life through extraordinary circumstances and they prove just how strong a mother and her love really are.
The narrator begins with:
When things are at their worst, we can always count on moms to be at their best.
While a snapshot of a grandma donning a facemask and meeting her new grandchild through a car window flashes across the screen.
The narrator continues:
When the world around us is hunkered down in fear, they’re the ones on the front lines, making the new normal feel a little bit more normal.
Are you crying yet? Just wait, there’s more.
The video clips continue. A mom baking a cake with her two young children. Another one making bubbles for her kids to chase. A new mom with her baby, FaceTiming a loved one.
There are kids playing ball, celebrating birthdays, enjoying family dinners and bedtime stories. Kids doing “normal” kid things, while still in quarantine.
The commercial shows real moms. With real kids. Living life in the midst of a pandemic. Working, playing, mothering. Making the best out of the worst.
It shows the ordinary times. And it also shows the extraordinary:
It talks about how, in the middle of homeschooling and social distancing, our kids are learning what matters most – LOVE, LAUGHTER, AND A GOOD INTERNET CONNECTION.
But that’s not all that they are learning. Our kids are witnessing the power of a mother’s love in action. A power that keeps their world from spinning completely off of its axis. A power that supersedes the worry and the fear. A power that holds everything together while the rest of the world is falling apart.
And while our kids may not recognize it now, someday they will.
The video ends with the following words:
So that one day when this madness is all finally over, when this new normal goes back to normal, our children will one day tell stories about how in the spring of 2020, the world did not stop. It kept spinning, and moving forward, fuelled by the most powerful force on Earth, a mother’s love.
*SOB*
In a press release, Danielle Mason, vice president of consumer marketing, Teleflora, talks about the inspiration behind the ad, saying:
As a working mom of two young children, navigating all of these changes from home, I deeply identify with how moms are feeling right now.
Seeing moms posting on social media about their experiences and their feelings, both good and bad, we knew it was going to be a very different Mother’s Day and wanted to recognize these unusual circumstances and Herculean efforts.”
In just 1 day, the video has been viewed over 1.5M times.
And I can see why. It is a testament to just how strong mothers are. How when the going gets tough, and a pandemic sweeps the globe, we just keep on going. And it’s true. We do. We figure out a way.
Some of us organize epic birthday parades, or host at-home dance parties, or run around in T-Rex costumes. Some of us excel at homeschooling and working from home and making elaborate family meals.
And some of us don’t.
But we are all killing it right now.
In the face of all of this madness, we keep putting one foot in front of the other. We keep getting up even when we are knocked down. We push aside our own fears and anxieties. And calm the ones rising in our kids.
We shelter our kids and keep them safe. We wipe their tears and hold them close. And we continue to give them a semblance of normal when life is anything but. And these are the true testaments to the strength of a mother’s love.
Watch the full video here: