28 Years and Counting

It seems like yesterday and it's not. They say time flies and to me it has evaporated. August 8th marks much more than just a birthday but the start of one of the most extraordinary journeys any woman can undertake. Almost to this moment 28 years ago I was more afraid and more excited than at any other moment in my life. I was alone, I was praying and just outside my door my own mother and father were as afraid as I was.

I can't even begin to express the joy of the moment my first showed her beautiful face. I can't describe the pain or the anxiousness I felt but what I can say is that at that moment I knew what it meant to love someone more than myself. I knew what unselfishness finally meant and I was finally a role that defined so many more generations of women in my family.

My mother came in and held her, with tears, and began to tell me of the triumph and tragedy that this journey would be. Her tears flowing down her face as she expressed just how grateful that she was a she. I would have a friend for the rest of my life. How lucky am I to have been blessed three more times.

28 years ago today I was changed to my core and I am so grateful for that change.

I am who I am today because of that moment.

I am a mother.

Thank you K for giving me such a wonderful gift. Thank you for always being so wonderful and for forgiving me for not always being that.

I feel Mom now all the time as she helps me prepare for my new role, that of Grandma. How lucky am I to being given that.

Happy Birthday K and thank-you, thank-you so much. You have given me so much to be grateful for, so much to be proud of and I want you to know how happy I am for you and for the journey you are about to begin. Your baby will be loved, cherished and cared for in the tradition of amazing woman.  I have no fears for my new grandchild because you will be it's mother.

Life is a circle and I am so much in gratitude for my part in it.