Mother’s Day.
Mother, by definition, means “a female parent,” but there is so much more to the word than that.
This year is my first Mother’s Day as a mother, a day I have waited for my entire life.
I feel like I haven’t even truly learned what it means to be a mother yet, as I have been one for only about seven months.
What I do know is that I have devoted every second of my life to taking care of my daughter, from the feedings in the middle of the night to the major diaper blowouts that make me want to hurl ... it’s all worth it.
Some days I suffer from “mommy guilt” that I don’t spend enough time with my daughter, ashamed that I work away from the home and can’t spend those days with her.
But then I know how important it is to provide for her. It’s almost as if that time away makes me cherish even more every moment I do get to spend with her.
I never had a doubt in my mind that I would one day be a mother. I have always had a close bond with my mother, and that led me to the desire to have the same type of relationship with my children.
I am on a Facebook group for Cleburne Moms, where we share advice and celebrate milestones together.
The other day, one of the women asked, “What was the hardest thing to give up when you became a parent?”
I thought for a while and then responded with, “Hmmm. I can’t think of any one thing. I always knew I wanted to be a mom and I would have given up anything I had to for that!”
That’s the solid truth.
Being a mother doesn’t mean giving yourself up. It means adding a new dimension to your life.
I found this quote I fell in love with: “The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new.”
I’ll wake up when she cries at night. At the time it might not be fun, but I’ll miss the late-night feeding sessions that create such a bond between mother and child.
I’ll leave work to take her the doctor when she’s sick.
I’ll wash load after load of laundry that she spits up on, poops on or whatever else babies do.
I’ll do whatever it is every mother must do for their child because I know one day she’ll be a teenager. One day she won’t want to hang out with me.
Happy Mother’s Day to my fellow mothers. Enjoy your day and cherish your children.
