Motherly or not?

Last week I had a conversation that has really been on my mind non-stop ever since I hung up the phone. A woman I know, who happens to be slightly older than my mother, was saying how she was just not very motherly. I was surprised to hear her say that and of course said she was motherly in my opinion. I truly believe that she is because I would never throw around compliments without the proper conviction.

But that's just it, "motherly" in this case was just my opinion.... Would she be considered motherly by anyone else's definition or idea? Which leads me to my next question, what does motherly mean? I think most would agree that being motherly has nothing to do with giving birth, it is MUCH deeper than that. It is almost embedded in a woman's soul. Either she has it or not. While I can agree that not all women have the motherly nature about them, I think to some degree all women can be at any time if they so choose.

And just in case you were curious, I found these definitions of motherly on the Web:

• maternally: in a maternal manner; as a mother; "she loved her students almost maternally"
  befitting a mother; warm and nurturing wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
• A mother is a biological and/or social female parent of an offspring. Because of the complexity and differences of the social, cultural, and religious definitions and roles, it is challenging to define a mother in a universally accepted definition.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motherly
• motherliness - the quality of having or showing the tenderness and warmth and affection of or befitting a mother; "the girl's motherliness made her invaluable in ...wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
• motherliness - The property of being motherlyen.wiktionary.org/wiki/motherliness