Yay Mothers! / Judy

I just finished a book by Nevada Barr called "Borderline" about her main protagonist, Anna Pidgin, who's a ranger in a national part.  All the books are about her solving mysteries in different national parks. Anna is a loner and a staunch feminist. In this book she's rafting down the Rio Grande when she rescues a newborn baby girl whose mother dies. For the whole book Anna is trying to escape a rising river, climb out of the canyons and running away from the bad guys who want to kill the baby for their own nefarious reasons. It's a real shock to Anna how protective she feels towards this baby and how caring for it changes her life. 

Towards the end she says:

"Anna mentally apologized to the mothers of the world for any stray thoughts she'd had over the years that they weren't brave enough, or smart enough, or productive enough. Doing anything, ANYTHING, with an infant in arms was a near impossibility: thinking, fighting, moving, working, eating. Helplessness was how she'd seen it, but it wasn't that the women couldn't do for themselves. It was that they could not do for themselves unless they sacrificed their child. That women often chose to have more than one child was mind-boggling; it must require the courage of several prides of lions. Courage that Anna had always lacked."

Hats off to all the courageous mothers I know!