Mothers Day isn’t the only day we can show appreciation to an influential woman in our lives, but it is a day full of opportunity to do so. As the date is fast approaching, Miss Six Nations Shauna Clause shared her thoughts with Two Row Times on what the day means to her in hopes of giving Mother’s Day inspiration to others.
What does the word “mother” mean to you?
I don’t even think [a mother] has to be someone that’s biologically connected to you. It could be an influential woman in your life, someone who has been there for you, nurtured you, cared for you. You know what I mean? Someone that’s always been behind you in your life. A mother is there to stand behind you, but to also call you out when you’re not on the right path. A mother won’t let you go down that wrong path without guiding you.
Mothers are superheroes — it’s not even funny. I could never even explain the amount of love my mom has for me or the love any mother has for their kid.
What is your fondest memory of you and your mother?
My mom is really into karaoke and she’s really into singing — she loves singing. So just recently we got to sing together on stage. Not in front of a lot of people or anything, just our friends and such.
We sang “26 Cents” by The Wilkinsons and it was the greatest. Anytime I get to sing with my mom she gets so much joy out of it, and I do too because of her joy. So, that’s one of my fondest memories — is getting to sing with my mom on stage.
What was the greatest piece of wisdom that your mother gave to you?
The greatest piece of information or wisdom my mother has given me came in the form of her leading by example. She is the most resourceful person I have ever known. She doesn’t stress about things for long, she always finds a way to make things work and she gets things done no matter the difficulty of the task.
I’ve watched her be this way my whole life and have learned through seeing the positive things that come out of it that this was a valuable skill that I wanted to develop and carry with me throughout my life.
Finally, what are your ideas for Mothers Day?
I wrote my mom a letter for Mother’s Day. It’s pretty long, but at the end I said: “you were the first person I loved and you were the first person that ever loved me”.
I wrote: The love and bond between mother and child can never be broken, just like I know I will never be broken and we as a family will never be broken because of everything you taught and continue to teach us. You teach us by example and you’ve set a pretty great one. If I could be half as great of a mother that you are, I’ll be happy. Thank you for being my mom first and my best friend second.
Along with her sweet letter, Clause explained that her and her siblings get together each year to do something collective for their mother on Mother’s Day as well. We hope this inspired you to take the opportunity to honour, appreciate and celebrate a certain mother figure in your life for this Sunday, May 14.
