When a Houston-based band, The Suffers, wanted to show their moms some love for Mother's Day, they decided to sing to them.
In an adorable, tear-jerking music video, The Suffers brought "Mammas" to life by celebrating their own mothers — and featuring queer parenting too.
All images from "Mammas" by The Suffers, used with permission.
The heartwarming video highlights moms and their love for their kids. It focuses on the eight band members' own experiences with their moms, but kicks off with a queer couple who are featured throughout the video. All the band members fell in love with this approach.
"The family unit as we know it is evolving," says lead singer Kam Franklin. "There is no one way to be a mother. So we have this representation because it exists and lesbians can be mothers just in the same way straight moms and single parents can."
As LGBTQ parenting continues to become normalized, The Suffers' bold celebration of queer parenting is more important than ever. Roughly 6 million American children have LGBTQ parents, a number that will likely rise in coming years.
"I hope that we're evolving as a society to where people are either just going to get over it or realize that they're going to be that person, and the world is going to keep turning."
Set to some incredibly powerful vocals and instrumentals, the music video features adorable clips of each band member telling their mom just how awesome they are.
The idea for the music video came to lead singer Franklin after a few holiday drinks with family.
"I just became really aware of how much I appreciated [my mother] and everything that we've gone through as a family," Franklin says. "It took me some time and some growing to learn that she's not this perfect person, but at the same time she is because she's my mother. She's my hero."
"Do you know?
Oh, do you know?
Do you know how loved you are?"
According to Franklin, the band attempts to recognize that moms are not these perfect, untouchable humans, and coming to terms with this reality makes the love between a parent and child all the more powerful. To further that message of authentic human experiences, each mother reads a letter from their child on camera. Some of the letters ask for forgiveness and wisdom; others offer forgiveness for past mistakes and arguments.
The music video gave the band members a rare opportunity to recognize their moms as the humans they are — both flawed and wonderful at the same time.
"There's this saying that 'parents just don't understand,'" Franklin says, "I feel like that's a lie. I feel like it's us, the kids, that don't understand because we haven't lived this life. We haven't been through this yet. I know everybody's parents aren't great, but for the most part, what you should see [in your mother] is someone that only wanted the best for you and only wanted to protect you in this crazy world."
Franklin's point rings true for many. While everyone has unique experiences with their mother, the impact of motherhood is simply invaluable.
Many mothers work full-time, are often still responsible for many domestic responsibilities, and have an array of other different tasks and responsibilities to maintain. Yet, through it all, they find a way to offer a maternal love that comes in all ethnicities, sexualities, and identities.
While not everyone might have a great relationship with their mom, it’s important to recognize moms who have given their lives to being badass, awesome, empowering parents. Their sacrifices and love are invaluable.
Do you know how loved you are?
Call your mom, and I bet you'll find out.
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An Irish woman went to the doctor for a routine eye exam. She left with bright neon green eyes.
It's not easy seeing green.
Did she get superpowers?
Going to the eye doctor can be a hassle and a pain. It's not just the routine issues and inconveniences that come along when making a doctor appointment, but sometimes the various devices being used to check your eyes' health feel invasive and uncomfortable. But at least at the end of the appointment, most of us don't look like we're turning into The Incredible Hulk. That wasn't the case for one Irish woman.
Photographer Margerita B. Wargola was just going in for a routine eye exam at the hospital but ended up leaving with her eyes a shocking, bright neon green.
At the doctor's office, the nurse practitioner was prepping Wargola for a test with a machine that Wargola had experienced before. Before the test started, Wargola presumed the nurse had dropped some saline into her eyes, as they were feeling dry. After she blinked, everything went yellow.
Wargola and the nurse initially panicked. Neither knew what was going on as Wargola suddenly had yellow vision and radioactive-looking green eyes. After the initial shock, both realized the issue: the nurse forgot to ask Wargola to remove her contact lenses before putting contrast drops in her eyes for the exam. Wargola and the nurse quickly removed the lenses from her eyes and washed them thoroughly with saline. Fortunately, Wargola's eyes were unharmed. Unfortunately, her contacts were permanently stained and she didn't bring a spare pair.
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Since she has poor vision, Wargola was forced to drive herself home after the eye exam wearing the neon-green contact lenses that make her look like a member of the Green Lantern Corps. She couldn't help but laugh at her predicament and recorded a video explaining it all on social media. Since then, her video has sparked a couple Reddit threads and collected a bunch of comments on Instagram:
“But the REAL question is: do you now have X-Ray vision?”
“You can just say you're a superhero.”
“I would make a few stops on the way home just to freak some people out!”
“I would have lived it up! Grab a coffee, do grocery shopping, walk around a shopping center.”
“This one would pair well with that girl who ate something with turmeric with her invisalign on and walked around Paris smiling at people with seemingly BRIGHT YELLOW TEETH.”
“I would save those for fancy special occasions! WOW!”
“Every time I'd stop I'd turn slowly and stare at the person in the car next to me.”
“Keep them. Tell people what to do. They’ll do your bidding.”
In a follow-up Instagram video, Wargola showed her followers that she was safe at home with normal eyes, showing that the damaged contact lenses were so stained that they turned the saline solution in her contacts case into a bright Gatorade yellow. She wasn't mad at the nurse and, in fact, plans on keeping the lenses to wear on St. Patrick's Day or some other special occasion.
While no harm was done and a good laugh was had, it's still best for doctors, nurses, and patients alike to double-check and ask or tell if contact lenses are being worn before each eye test. If not, there might be more than ultra-green eyes to worry about.