A mom is born

I remember my first Mother's day. I wasn't quite a mother yet....being that my baby was still inside my body. It was six days before my due date, and I was hoping that he/she would come bless me on Mother's day. That didn't happen. She hung in there for 2 more weeks, but my day was still memorable. My mom and my sister bought me Mother's day cards, and some cozy pajamas to wear at the hospital. I was very touched because I hadn't really done any "mothering" yet, other than suffer the 9 months of pregnancy.....and I switched from spending my movie theater paychecks on clothes for myself to spending it all on baby stuff.
But I digress. It is to date one of my most memorable Mother's Days. It was almost like an initiation, welcome to the club, you're a mom now, and will forever be. It meant a lot. I was only 18, and a little insecure. Should my becoming a mother at this junction in my life be celebrated? Some wouldn't think so, but my family, my mother, made sure it was. I know now that it was one of the millions of decisions she's had to make as a mother, to celebrate rather than condemn. She could have been disappointed, but she didn't reveal it to me. Instead I was supported and made to feel capable and confident in my future as a mom, and it's one of the best things my mother has done for me.


10 years later, being a mother is a lot less whimsical, and a lot more "down in the trenches" (Cali is potty training), but it's no less poignant. What we do as mothers is create life, perpetuate the human race, raise up the next generation and hope that we've learned enough by that point to do it well, to point them in the right directions, send them out in the world and hope for their happiness.

Mistakes are inevitable in a position so all encompassing and neverending, and gratitude may scarcely be spoken, but the connection of mother to child, and the love is always there, and reward enough to continue to do our very best.

To the rest of the girls in the club, Happy Mother's Day.


This is what my kids and hubby put together for me




Just enough recognition to make it through another year, *wink*