What else could being a mother possibly be?

"Mothers never get to meet their children."I forgot where I was when I heard the phrase, I think it was a year or two ago, and I hope I'm quoting it correctly. The person was mentioning it like it was an idiom, albeit one I had never heard, and as if it was commonly known. Maybe it was the radio. I don't know.They went on to discuss ideas about the way that children, even as adults, are different people to their mothers than they are with the rest of the world. There's a special reverence. The way they don't want to disappoint their moms, or to get in trouble with them, to think less of them. They want to show the best side of themselves to their mothers, even if only to make them happy. They keep secrets from their mothers. They mask themselves to their mothers. This concept fascinates and saddens me.I always wanted a mom.Which is strange because I had one. Kind of?I think there's a particular sort of pain that comes from being a repressed trans girl growing up without a mom…