Mother’s Day Thank You

To the little girls who made me a mom, I thank you both for loving me so unconditionally.  Munch, my firstborn, you are the one who made me a mama.  I love how you see me.  You really know your mama very well.  You drew me with my Listen To Your Mother shirt and one of my many red cardigans. I appreciate the 3.5″ extra inches of height that you gave me.  I wish you could have fudged a bit more on my age like your sister did, but you are very factual and logical.  I adore how your mind works, and I love that we share a love of books in common. Reading Harry Potter with you has been a delight this past month. I wish you weren’t so much like your mom, and you had to stay up late reading to the end of the next chapter.

Skeeter, I love how you see me as larger than life – 8′ tall.  You are my girl who sucks the marrow out of life.  You approach everything with enthusiasm.  If you are not happy about something, you let us know.  I hope that my advocacy for moms has contributed a bit to that.  I love to continue to cultivate your passion for music.  Singing and listening to music with you is one of my great joys.  You love to tell stories, and I will continue to encourage this gift.  I adored that you wanted to be in Listen To Your Mother too and a soccer coach just like your big sister, mommy and daddy.  You want so much to be big and grow up.  Please stay little for a little while longer.  I love that I can still pick you up and carry you.  I am limited to only piggy back rides with your sister.

To my amazing mom, my mothers-in-law, my aunts, my sister, my sister-in-law, and my amazing cousins, thank you for sharing your mothering journey with me.  I could not do this journey without each of you.

To all the grandmas in my life: Libby, Marie, Mabel, Elizabeth, and Doris, thank you for being my role models for unconditional support and love. I learned so many lessons of how precious the love of grandmas is.  I treasured all the moments I have spent with each of you.  I am so blessed to still have two of these special ladies in my life.

To my assorted mom tribes: running moms, LTYM sisterhood, Alexandra, Rochelle, Warrior Moms, Mama’s Comfort Camp, daycare moms and school moms, thank you so much for your wisdom, your encouragement and the love.

For those moms who are struggling with grief over the loss of their mom, I see you.  For those moms who are estranged from their children, I see you.  For those moms who are grieving the loss of their babies, I see you.  You are not alone.  For the birth moms, who made the choice to give up their babies, I see you.  For the adoptive moms, who opened their hearts to be someone’s forever family, I see you.

I hold in my hearts the mamas who struggle with perinatal mood and anxiety disorders.  Mother’s Day can be painful.  I participated in Postpartum Progress’s Mother’s Day Rally this year with my piece that I read two years ago at LTYM Milwaukee. I hope that this gives you hope.