In honour of Mother’s Day, we asked some AGCF ambassadors to share a special story about their mum. This is Jean’s story about her mum, Elaine.
Jean and Elaine Kittson
“A chance for us all to celebrate mothers. Mums in all their glory and all their rawness, in all their difference and in all their similarity – motherhood in all its guises.
One of the best things about my mother is that I have always been able to say everything about anything to her. There has never been a topic I couldn’t talk about with mum. I remember when I was 16 I asked her if she was a virgin when she got married, I must have been interested in virginity for some reason I can no longer recall, and she told the truth, as she always does.
My mother is 96 this year and happily for me, I have had many years to apologise for my teenage years and thank her for being a formidable if unusual mother, insisting we explore everything we could about life, work and the world before we ‘settled down’. I am absolutely awestruck that she was OK with me backpacking overseas for two years and only contacting her every couple of months. Whereas unanswered text messages from my kids send me into a freak out, and whole contactless days result in low level anxiety attacks that can ramp up in a few short hours to calls to Missing Persons.
But mostly I am grateful to my mother for being a “full-time feminist” as she describes herself. Mum never once let the males or females in the family ever consider we were not equal. We had no gender-specific roles and she insisted on an education for all, so that we girls would never have to rely on a man for money. My mother always believed that education and your own money gave women freedom and equality.
She was one of those women over the last 100 years, who have given women the choice to be educated and to be career women, or mothers, or both, and if we prefer – not be mothers at all. To cut it any way we damn well like.
So, on Mother’s Day, I am grateful to my own mother and would like to thank her and all those mothers who have given other mothers a choice.
Hooray for them and hooray for us.”
– Jean Kittson
To celebrate your Mum, we’d love for you to donate #OneForYourMum. This campaign encourages people to make a single donation to the AGCF. All money raised is used to fund important research that will help save women’s lives around the world – women like our strong mums.
Copy and paste the below to your social media and share a special story all about your Mum.
Join me this Mother’s Day by making a donation and posting a special memory of you and your mum to social media with the hashtag #oneforyourmum. Donate to the Australian Gynaecological Cancer Foundation here: https://bit.ly/2A0AAOv
Happy Mother’s Day.