JEAN SMALL WITH A PHOTO OF HER SON ARMY STAFF SGT. NILS THOMAS AHL

Moms share their joy, pain

By Steve Palisin - spalisin@thesunnews.com

SHARON WRIGHT WITH HER DAUGHTER SHERRI BOND

HELEN FORD WITH HER SON TRAVIS

JULIE BRUCE WITH HER DAUGHTER RYLIE

CHARLOTTE KUKUK WITH HER DAUGHTER MARILYN WOODEN

PORTRAITS OF MOTHERHOOD

T he sacrifices to carry, deliver and help raise a child are a small price to pay for  the one-of-a-kind bond that results.

At least that was the consensus among women contacted for this Mother's Day salute.

We asked them about their most memorable moments of motherhood, and they shared stories about their lifetime connections with their children.

Read their tales in their own words on Page 8A.

Dr. Tracey Golden of Magnolia OB/GYN in Myrtle Beach has experienced the powerful bond of motherhood in three ways: as a woman, mother and health care provider.

"You can ask any woman who delivered her baby 20 years ago, and she'll say, 'It was Dr. So and So,' because you so connect with your OB/GYN, and you remember your childbirth like nothing else in your life," Golden said.

Christy Cimineri, a former labor and delivery nurse, said bonding with children builds with time.

"Bonding is a process when you meet your child, and it continues throughout your life, with each milestone, with each burp, with each diaper, with everything they do," said Cimineri, who now leads the nursing department at Horry-Georgetown Technical College in Conway.

Deborah Walker, an assistant professor of communication at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, said although many children's first human bonding happens with their father or a grandmother, motherhood remains as American as apple pie.

"In some ways, that's even more of a testament to Mother's Day," Walker said.

Gary Carson, an assistant professor of communication at CCU, said although he has had his hands out for delivery of three of his children's births and he has seen all six of them, he recognizes who did the hard part for each.

"Obviously, my wife held the baby for nine months," he said.

Anne Parker is president of the Grand Strand Blue Star Mothers, a group of 18 women who have children in the military.

With a 25-year-old daughter and a 22-year-old son in the Army, Parker said she and other moms' bonds stay strong with their offspring serving around the world.

"For the most part, we worry," Parker said. "We do that really well, but you just know they're doing what they feel they need to be doing."

She said the mothers rely on faith, especially because they can't control when their children are going to call or come home, or choose their deployments.

"All you control is how many times you pray," Parker said.

Contact STEVE PALISIN at 444-1764.