For all the kinds of mamas

Mother's day is such a mixed day for me. I love that I'm a mother, love that I got to wake up to Mylo's Bear Hugs, Oscar's songs, and Victor's giggles and love that I spent my day playing with, eating with, snuggling with and dancing with my family of 5. I am so very, very lucky to be their mom and so very blessed to have my family. I will never forget the road here and that the day that celebrates moms can also sting those who aren't yet or couldn't be and it means that in the quiet moments between the singing, the playing and the dancing I reflect on how we got here.

For 32 years, when I looked down I saw this and I was grateful for it's abilities to dance and to run and to  travel and to play and to work

and for 28 weeks when I looked down I saw this and I was grateful for it's ability to create and to stretch and to grow and to hold on for even one more day

When I look down today it often looks like this (can you find it) and sometimes I can barely recall not having 12 extra arms and legs flailing, grabbing and climbing and I'm grateful for it's ability to stay flexible and strong and nourishing and playful and loving even when it's tired, tired, tired!

and in all that change I will never forget that there was a time (that felt like forever even though it was only a couple of years) when looking down and seeing this, I saw empty and broken and damaged

So to all the mamas out there however your children have come to you, enjoy the squishy parts and the wrinkles, the grey hairs and the creaks and cracks, you've earned them and they tell your story...Happy Mother's Day to You! 

and to all the mamas to be out there enjoy every stretch and turn and twist and appreciate those jabs in the ribs and welcome that little one (or those little ones) to stay in just a little longer so they enter this world good and ready for it's crazy ways....Happy Mother's Day to You!

and to all the mamas in waiting out there, trust in your body to figure this out or when it's time to give it a rest trust in your heart to decide when and how that turn will come and know that your maybe baby will find it's way to you from within or from afar at just the right time. Try to enjoy the calm before the storm, life after will be amazing, but it will never be life before so to you, more than any other, I say....Happy Mother's Day to You! 

To each and every woman: mama, mama to be, mama in waiting, or cool aunt that never wants to be a mama, mama, and any other kind of mama I've neglected to mention, my boys and I send you a great big slobbery toddler smooch for the place that you hold in mama land!