Motherhood

"Don't be discouraged if your children reject your advice. Years later they will offer it to their own offspring." ~Oscar Wilde

I have been neither a good daughter nor sister in my life, though I am trying to make up for the grief I caused when I was younger. There are three women whom I'd like to acknowledge as surviving me in my worst times and helping me to thrive since I've grown up (not to mention since I've become an 'almost' mom myself).

My mother: Probably receiving the worst of my behavior is my very own mother. She was strict when I was young and, though I now absolutely agree with her parenting methods and plan to emulate them, I hated her for it. I was awful and mouthy and disrespectful, something I regret to this day. She has long ago forgiven me for my rebellious nature and has even grown to love me for it and encourage adventure in my life. I learned everything I know about independence and self-respect from my mother and hope I can pass it on to my son. Something I will not pass on to my son but am eternally grateful for nonetheless is my entire wardrobe of maternity clothes. Without my mother, I would be naked; now we all appreciate my mother a little more.

My mother-in-law: Getting a grown woman to love you for stealing her son away is no easy task, but my M-I-L has never been anything but loving to me. Even when marrying her son, and she and I disagreed drastically about many things, she always displayed nothing but kindness, love, and grace. I have learned so much from this remarkable woman and have grown to love her as if I always had. Now that Patrick and I are expanding the family, she is as involved and connected as ever, always offering to help or send something to us. She is so excited to be a grandmother, and I am so excited for her. She will be so good at it.

My sister, the Baby Mama: Though she is younger than I am, she married first and brought The Best Nephew Ever into being, and, thus, is a constant source of encouragement, advice, and inspiration to me. While I would like to think that my constant torture of her as a middle and high schooler made her a stronger and more resilient person, I fully admit that it is her unconditional love of me and her readiness to forgive whatever I've done that has taught me about the person that I aspire to become.

I did not imagine that today would also be about me, but I am so grateful for the many thoughts and emails. It is overwhelming how much support this blogging community offers, and I feel so lucky to be a small part of it.