Mothers

There are three people I've been thinking about the last few days, with my first Mother's Day being this weekend...

To my mother-in-law, for the nights of sleeping on a nursery floor, lunch breaks expressing milk in your car, working around catnaps, chasing a toddler dashing for the road, comforting night terrors, and the million other things you did to shape the man I love, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your son is kind, fair, honest, sensitive, loyal, supportive, funny, smart, patient and a wonderful father and husband. I think about how lucky I am to have him in my life every day.

To my mom, I'm just beginning to realize how impossible it is to thank you for everything. How one day a year dedicated to mom is kind of hilarious considering the blood, sweat and tears (very literally) poured into raising a child. And I've only been at it for five months! Its humbling to realize, as I'm peeling poo-filled socks off my child's feet, someone once did the same for me. I was a tiny, helpless black hole of needs and demands, a wee tyrant who screamed bloody murder (and that's not even covering my teen years), and you unfailingly and lovingly gave and gave and gave, over and over and over. You still do. I'm sorry it took 31 years for me to realize the debt of gratitude I owe you...I don't think I could realize it until I became a mother myself...

Which brings me to my little son...you are a sweet, funny, cuddly handful who is teaching me things every day. So far, lessons include: live in the moment as much as possible. Don't set myself up for disappointment by thinking too far ahead. This too shall pass. Three sleepless nights of being a human pacifier does not mean I'll never sleep again. Temporarily turning off the mom-brain takes exactly two and a half beers or twenty laps in the rec center pool. Coffee is the nectar of life. Grunting and straining ALWAYS means poo. ALWAYS. (Do not ignore this or your husband will end up trying to shove your down comforter into the washing machine at 7 p.m.) I need other people. Ask for help. Breathing a sigh of relief when I leave the house to go work for a few hours does not make me a bad mom. Adapt. Trust my gut. Don't Google. Listen to my baby. And every day is a gift.

Oh, and a wonderful weekend with my little family makes me a very sappy mommy indeed.

Happy Mother's Day!