Mother’s Day 2021
I’ve always felt Mother’s Day is a strange Hallmark holiday. I am honored and celebrated for doing something I absolutely love doing, it seems odd.
These boys have been my world and my life for nearly 27 years, and I have truly loved every moment of being their mom. What an exciting and adventurous journey to watch three tiny, (yet huge) boys become men.
We’ve had many twists and turns along the way. Many, laughs, gut bursting laughs in our home. And we’ve also had some, tears. Precious tears that became my tears. Tears that kept me up at night and and forced me to my knees.
I have loved every first with each of them. The first step, first day of school, first lost tooth, first dance, first game. Every first occupies space in my heart that will never go away. Every victory is also my victory and every battle, I get to fight with them. It’s an utter thrill and joy!
The hardest part of being a mom isn’t the sleepless nights or the hectic crazy days that never end. The hardest part of being a mom is slowly letting them go. While they always will need you, the intensity of their needs becomes less and less as life slowly changes.
You’ve raised them to be independent and they are. You’ve raised them to figure things out on their own, and they do. You’ve raised them to go change the world, and they go. And your new role is sitting on the sidelines from a distance cheering them on and being their biggest fan. It’s actually the same role you’ve always had, yet oh, so different.
You don’t get to go back to those places, and there is no rewind button to relive those magical years of wonder. Each precious moment, each first, each monumental victory and painful defeat are now memories that are drawn upon and held onto as life just blows by as you let them go to live their lives.
You watch them fall in love and then you release them to another woman and you silently step aside with the sweet cherished memory that you were the first woman he ever loved.
I guess I do love Mother’s Day. I’m a mom. It’s a title I received the day my first son was born. It’s a title I have that I can never lose. It’s a title that comes with pride. It’s a title with a description that includes sleepless nights, skinned knees and broken bones. Sitting the bench and hitting home runs. The first kiss and the first heartbreak. Graduation and leaving to college. Moving on, but always coming home, and never, ever, leaving my heart.