From one mom to a mother,
People will paint you pictures about motherhood in rainbows, you will forget that rain comes first.
The brightness of that rainbow will always outshine the gray, but it’s OK to talk about the gray—you should.
You will rise up in the dead of the night, time after time. It will hurt, your bones will ache. You’ll swear across pillowcases about whose turn it is to get up.
But you will sleep again.
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You will question your identity, you’ll miss her. But maybe no one told you the pieces of the puzzle go back together from the inside out.
You will find yourself again.
There were two people born that day.
You will cry, your baby will cry.
Some evenings as a hush finally falls over your mess-ridden house the sound will be ringing in your ears.
But you will also laugh ‘til you cry.
There is so much to look forward to.
You’ll wonder if you’re doing everything right, you’ll panic, second guess, Google search, you’ll wonder if you have enough for your baby.
Your baby has you, you are enough.
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You’ll be busy yet also feel as if you’re achieving nothing.
You’re achieving everything that matters in this precious moment.
Those laundry piles? You’ll be folding those tiny clothes away into storage soon, sooner than you realize.
I’m not saying to enjoy every moment, you won’t, but these moments do pass.
Don’t wish for it too much.
Some days will be a lucky dip with the mood in the house.
Don’t try and do everything the same as the day before so they have that long lunch nap.
You will have good days and bad days. That’s normal.
You will have days when you’ll feel depleted from all the giving.
Try to fill your cup and not just everyone else’s. That doesn’t make you selfish, it makes you a better mother.
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You’ll suddenly think of your own mother.
You’ll have a newfound respect for each and every mother or father climbing this same mountain.
You’ll fall, but keep climbing.
The view is beautiful and so is the view behind you.
You might think some days you can’t do this.
That it seems impossible.
But you can.
You are.
With each season comes change.
It isn’t easy.
But it’s so, so worth it.
Originally published on the author’s Facebook page