A little over a year ago, one of my sweetest friends had her first baby. This baby was a long time in coming so what a great celebration when she finally entered the world. This is the letter I wrote to her welcoming her to the biggest club in existence – Motherhood. I post it today in honor of Mother’s Day. Happy Mother’s Day to all you moms out there.
Dear Amanda,
Welcome! Welcome to motherhood. You have just joined the club that millions of women all across the world belong to. You will now have a kinship with women whose names you will never know. Your body will be changing in many ways. Some you may notice and some you may not. You may notice that none of your pants fit and that your wonder bra isn’t so wonderful. You may not notice your spit is now better than any cleaning agent found on the market. It is also antibacterial, you can stick a dirty pacifier that has fallen on the germ ridden floor into your mouth and out will come a germ-free miracle. You really will have eyes in the back of your head now. You may not be able to see them, but you will be able to see with them. However well you might have multitasked before, you will be twice as good now. You can cook dinner, make a grocery list, help with homework, talk on the phone, and spank somebody all at the same time. You are amazing!
Now, let me caution you on some of the risks. Your heart that used to reside in your chest, now lives outside of you. It lies in the crib at night and is protected by all the bumper pads. Soon, it will begin to walk. And with walking will come falling. It may hurt a little, but you’ll survive. That walking will turn into talking. Some of the things your heart will say will make you feel as if you are on top of the world. And some of the things it will say will crush you. Then will come a day when you must send your very own little heart out into the big world. When your heart gets on the school bus for the very first time, you’ll want to go with it and make sure it doesn’t get hurt, but you can’t. When it drives off, you’ll think you can’t go on without that heart in your chest, but you will. You see, by allowing that heart out of your chest, it will have more room to grow. The longer it is out walking and talking and meeting the world, the bigger and better your heart will become. All of this, you will survive. You will survive it because God will walk along with you and because he allowed someone to call you “Mama”.
I love you,
Carol
Happy Mother’s Day to all my sweet friends and Happy Mother’s Day Amanda!
That might be the funniest, sweetest tribute to a mother that I have ever heard (well that I have ever read).
So beautiful and so true.
Happy Mother’s Day to you too, Carol!
This is a great letter, Carol! So very true… every single word.
What a wonderful friend you are! I love that! What a treasure that letter must be to your friend! Thanks for sharing it with us!
Happy Mother’s Day, Carol!
That was sweet. Happy Mothers Day to you.