8 beautiful Mother’s Day quotes for motherless daughters

During the weeks leading up to Mother’s Day, every restaurant, spa, and retailer is suggesting how you can “show mom how much you love her.” But for those without a mom, Mother’s Day isn’t everything Hallmark has it cracked up to be. As a woman who falls into that camp (I lost my mom when I was just shy of four*), I decided to compile a few Mother’s Day quotes with motherless daughters in mind.

It would be remiss of me not to mention, in the context of a post about motherless daughters, that I acquired a wonderful step-mother just two years after my mom passed away. I honestly can’t imagine how lost I would have felt if I’d had to grow up without her and I will be forever thankful to her for raising me, and to my Dad for having found her. I love you Mom.

There are hundreds of Mother’s Day quotes and sayings out there. Why a list for motherless daughters?

Two reasons. Firstly, because most Mother’s Day quotes and sayings focus on who mother is. But we motherless daughters don’t have the luxury of marking her life in the present tense.

Secondly, let’s keep it real. Many mother-daughter relationships are prickly. Losing a mother you had an easy, joyful relationship with is painful. Losing a mother with whom you experienced lots of conflict is both painful and complicated. While we could seize the day to remember how incredible or incredibly hard-to-live-with mom was, I have something else in mind.

Let’s turn Mother’s Day upside down and celebrate the fact that we were loved.

Whether you had a picture-perfect bond with your mom or the mother of all dysfunctional relationships, I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that you were, nevertheless, the subject of the very deepest form of love imaginable — a mother’s love.

Why the focus on motherless daughters, you may ask? Simply because I can’t profess to know what it is to be a motherless son on Mother’s Day.

Mother’s Day quote ❤ 1:

“A mother’s greatest masterpiece is her children.” (Unknown)

If you want to focus on what mattered most to your mom, focus on yourself more than the china, jewelry or criticisms she may have left behind because I’m pretty darn sure you were top of her list, even if she sometimes had a funny way of showing it.

*** GET YOUR FILL OF MOTHER’S DAY FACTS AND HISTORY HERE  ***

Mother’s Day quote ❤ 2:

“A mother thinks about her children day and night, even if they are not with her and will love them in a way they will never understand.” (Unknown)

If you’re a mother, as well as a motherless daughter, you’ll get this. If you’re not, trust me on this. Even when my 17-year-old daughter’s out of sight, she has my full attention. Whether I’m doting on her or fuming about her, she is always in my thoughts.

Mother’s Day quote ❤ 3:

“A mother holds her children’s hands for a while but their hearts forever.” (Unknown)

If you wish your mother had been able to hold your hand for longer, I hear you. I certainly wish the same for me. But here we are today, living without her — yet still very much living with her. And to me, that’s proof that our moms will always have our hearts.

Mother’s Day quote ❤ 4:

“There has never been nor will there ever be anything quite so special as the love between a mother and her child.” (Unknown)

When my daughter Anna was nearly four — the same age I was when my mom passed away — I observed the incredible bond she and I had and this gave me such comfort. I don’t remember my mom. I can’t say I remember feeling her love. But judging by the bond I had with my own daughter at this time, I became positively certain that she and I had shared something incredibly special.

*** MOTHERLESS AND CHILDLESS ON MOTHER’S DAY — READ THE FULL STORY ***

Mother’s Day quote ❤ 5:

“A mother’s love is eternal. She can love her child more than anything in this entire world.” (Unknown)

Maybe you had the perfect mother and always knew that to be true. Or maybe you felt as though you were your mom’s biggest burden. I can’t speak to how well your mother was able to overcome her own stories and demonstrate her love, but I’m pretty darn sure the love she had for you was unlike any other.

Mother’s Day quote ❤ 6:

“No one else will ever know the strength of my love for you. Afterall, you are the only one who knows what my heart sounds like from the inside.” (Kristen Proby, Fight with Me)

Think about it. Our mothers gave us VIP access to these intimate concerts nobody else got to attend. That doesn’t make up for the heartache of being motherless daughters, but it does make each and every one of us a Very Important Person!

Mother’s Day quote ❤ 7:

“Because when it comes to my offspring I will fight with the fangs of a wolf and the claws of a dragon. And no one, or nothing will stop me from protecting them.” (Unknown)

A mother’s love is fierce. While there may be things that your mother didn’t or couldn’t do for you, be it due to physical or emotional weakness, I’d venture to guess there was next to nothing she wouldn’t have done for you if she’d had the physical or emotional strength to do so. Regardless of whether she managed to give it or not, trust that you were worthy of her best.

Mother’s Day quote ❤ 8:

“A child’s ache is healed by a mother’s touch, as a mother’s ache is healed by her child.” (Unkown)

Remember, your mother was human and there were no doubt times when she thought she was going to buckle from the weight of life. But then you clasped her hand with your tiny fingers and suddenly she felt a little lighter.

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Through birthing you, raising you and nurturing you, for as many years as the universe saw fit to give her, she became the woman you called mom. On Mother’s Day, remember that you didn’t just take from her. You gave.

You gave her your love. You gave her your trust. And above all, you gave her the privilege of motherhood. That’s a beautiful thing you did. Here’s to you!

Viv for today xo