A Mother’s Day Message

Three generations (from left): Emma Teichroew (Charlotte Eliot’s mother), Charlotte Eliot (David Eliot’s mother) and Emma Eliot (Charlotte’s granddaughter). Photo taken in 2009.

Today is Mother’s Day.

Today we are asked to pause to remind ourselves of what is most important, and there is nothing more important than family. 

Immediate, extended, friends, neighbors, our community, all of us. 

All of you are family.

My mother taught me to question everything, to be respectful, to listen, to be kind. She also taught me how to be stubborn. To stand up for my beliefs. To fight to be better.

She taught me that when you get knocked down, you get up. If you get knocked down again, you get up. 

Each time you rise to your feet, you’ll be better. 

Today we are all also fighting an invisible enemy. (I am not referring to the virus that everyone is talking about all the time.) I am talking about the distrust and frustration that we are all feeling.

We are all trying to make sense of something that no one has all the answers to, and we are not handling the unknown well at all.

We are all better than this. 

You can argue with me on that point, but in doing so, you are saying that you cannot be better. I will always tell you that you can be better. I know you can, and I know I can. My mother also taught me that. 

We are all looking for someone or something to blame. 

When the earth warms up and the cherry trees blossom, we are supposed to be excited about the longer days and for all the visitors to come. We are supposed to be rolling out the welcome mat and prettying up our porches. 

Our community has hosted visitors for more than 100 years. We have always worked together to find a way to take care of one another and to welcome our guests. Our guests have returned the favor by investing in our hospitals, paying for our schools and preserving our heritage, and they keep coming back. 

Our visitors are part of our community. Part of our family. 

We all love Door County. 

It is our job at the Pulse to listen to all of you. To take our community’s temperature to see how you are all doing. We have spoken with many of you. We hear you. We have read the thermometer: Our community is simmering and close to a boil. 

Many of us are either panicked or angry. 

I understand why, but because my mother taught me to be stubborn, I refuse to accept that we have to live in a panicked or angry world. 

We are Door County. We work hard. We solve problems. We take care of one another. We care about one another. 

Whether you believe that we should never have sheltered in place, or whether you think we should be closed until June, we will be opening soon. Rather than debate the rationale of the decisions that have already been made, let us move forward together. 

Let us focus on what we do well and what we can control. Let us be good to one another, and let us be good to our guests. 

We are learning the best practices: how to clean rooms, how to arrange barstools and how to shop. We are learning how to accept one another’s fears. 

Like it or not, life has changed. We cannot go back. Let us see the best in one another, accept our differences and focus on our strengths. 

There is nothing more important than family. 

Our mothers all believe in us. Nothing would make our mothers more proud than if our family could see the best in one another, accept our differences, focus on our strengths and move forward together. 

Happy Mother’s Day.