They Really Do Grow Up

On January 24th, over 20 years ago, my life was forever changed.

I became a mom.

As anyone who has ever had a child knows, becoming a parent takes you from being self-focused to selfless.  It makes life exhilarating and exhausting.  It gives you worry wrinkles and laugh lines. 

There is nothing quite like it. 

I never fully understood love until I had a child.  It’s difficult to explain how deeply a parent cares for their child.  How each childhood heartache, becomes your heartache.  How each milestone, no matter how big or small, becomes a reason to celebrate.  How you willingly sacrifice money and time and sleep and personal comfort to stay up all night with a sick child, or log a thousand miles driving to and from soccer practice, or sit all day long at a sports tournament.  How you check homework and teeth brushing.  How you lose your temper one minute but plant a kiss on the check the next. How you talk and train and teach.  And lecture, just a bit.

You do these things over and over and over. Everyday. For years and years. Until finally, one day they grow up.

And so do you.

You remember the days when you wondered if you would ever have a spare minute to yourself.  Now you do.  But boy, are you glad that you had a lifetime of moments crowded out by needs bigger and stronger and more pressing than your own.  Taking care of someone else made you humble. Strong. Compassionate. Wise.

You stop and say a prayer of thanks.

Oh yes, my life forever changed on January 24th.  Happy Birthday, son.