To all the mama's in this place with style and grace, la la la la. Happy Mother's Day! Maybe it involves a day of no laundry, maybe breakfast in bed (how lovely), spas and pampering, extra long snuggles with your kids, or maybe a day we enjoy the simplicity of an uninterrupted shower and peeing alone for once. For me it gives me all the feels. Because it's so much more than the above (but hey honestly I'll take a mimosa because I'll probably still be doing laundry and peeing with a toddler at my feet).
It's a reminder of our greatest accomplishment. It's a reminder of the day many of us feel like we found ourselves (it will always feel like yesterday). It's a reminder of our strength. It's a reminder of what we can handle. It's our why, our reason. It's a reminder that life has a plan for us we have to trust. It's a reminder that we can survive (barely) on little to no sleep. It's a reminder we are teachers, boo boo fixers, maids, chefs, chauffeurs, masters of multitasking, lullaby singers, nightmare battlers, appointment schedulers. It's a reminder that life is so so precious, and it's flying by right before our eyes. It's the realization that we're now going to probably cry just thinking about how fast time goes. It's a reminder that even when we are 30 year old mothers ourselves we need our moms more than ever too. It's a reminder of how much our mom's did for us, and still do. It's a reminder to remember to breathe when the M-F chaos is just too much. It's a reminder that no, it's not always rainbows and butterflies.
Some, okay most, days are messy and chances are we're not at our best 24/7, but tomorrow is always a new day. It's a reminder that we need at least two coffees to function, and would be lost without Target. It's a reminder that because we balance so much mentally, we need to be gentler on ourselves. It's a reminder of how thankful we are to have dry shampoo apart of our lives. It's a reminder to not lose yourself, your pre-mama self. You're still in there girl; you may pee when you sneeze now, but I see you.
It's a reminder that we have the most challenging, most rewarding, most fulfilling, most demanding, yet most beautiful job. We get no breaks, we get no sick days, we may have to wait another 10 years until we can shower uninterrupted. And it may be another 10 years until we feel like we can sleep again. It's a reminder of how many feelings you can actually feel all at once. It's staring at your newborn for hours at 3:00am because you're in disbelief this precious human is yours. It's feeling defeated for not having all the answers. It's wishing we could protect and keep them innocent from the world forever and ever. It's those personal pep talks when the mom guilt rolls in again. It's knowing we are going to worry forever whether we like it or not. It's a reminder of our blessings, our sacrifices, our strength, of how much we can love. It's a reminder our hearts are always with those who find today to be a hard day, those who are missing their Mama, their baby, or praying for their chance to be a Mama. It's a reminder to never take anything for granted. It's giving your all non stop day after day. It's the reminder that you're doing a great job. You're doing your best, giving your best. It's battling the want to keep them little forever, yet anxious to see them grow. It's wanting to press pause. It's feeling emotional more than ever.
Sure my hair may have fallen out for weeks, my face has new wrinkles, my belly is as jiggly as jello (shout out to my savior, my high waist jeans), my boobs are now practically non existent; some days I bet a lot of us probably pick ourselves apart because seeing your body change can be hard as hell to accept. But it's all so worth it. Every change was worth it. And at the end of the day, when we are all drained craving our beds, we wouldn't trade this for anything. I'm sure that even on the toughest of days, the months (literally) of no sleep, what we had to go through just to get these little humans into this world, we feel blessed, maybe a little emotional, and probably a lot of crazy for thinking we would do it all over again in a heartbeat if we could. It's thinking how we don't remember life before them.
And then there's a part of my heart that is heavy for those who are feeling pain today. So let's not forget to think of all the women in our lives and be extra thankful. I think we all need to start giving ourselves more credit. This mimosa my hubs is going to come bring me in five minutes is for you. Because we're all basically a bad-ass real life superwoman, just with messy hair, full hands, in need of five minutes to ourselves, another coffee, a refill on the wine, and maybe some Botox. ♥
You are gorgeous! Admire you for besides all that you do, creating this and sharing with us... Way to go girl!!!