I was expecting my first child at 34. We had tried for nearly 5 years to start a family and many emotions from this time are still very real. But they are greatly overshadowed by my first emotions of motherhood.
I still vividly recall the first 5 am morning, when the night nurse roused me out of bed after a late-night c-section. ”You have to get moving” she said. Believe it or not, I was ready!
All I wanted to do was hold my baby. With her help, I eased into the chair next to my hospital bed. For two hours, I awkwardly, yet lovingly held my new baby.
I could not take my eyes off of him.
No longer concerned with my exhaustion, pain, or hunger, I was solely focused on my joy.
This year I celebrate my 16th year as a mother, having added another three sweet babies along the way. I often think, “Did my mother feel this way about me?”. Certainly I felt it with all of my children.
Each time I was filled with awe at creating a new life. I also realized there was not a finite amount of love to go around.
Each successive child was not left with a smaller piece of the pie. No, instead, I learned that a mother’s love does not have boundaries and seating is not limited.
A mother’s love truly was infinite-- amazing.
This Mother’s Day I take a little extra time to reflect on my mother and how her infinite love for me, not only shaped my childhood, but how it has continued to shape me, as I became Mommy and she became Grandma. Not only does she love me, but she deeply loves the little people I made. They are a part of her too. Over the past ten years, my Mom certainly has done it all, and without complaint. I would actually say she has relished it. She has made being a Grandma her profession and she is REALLY good at it. The other day I asked my 3 year-old daughter what she wanted to be when she grew up. She quickly declared, (thanks to great retail marketing)- a princess would suit her. When I informed her there weren’t going to be too many princess jobs available, she reconsidered. She sat still for a moment, then her little eyes lit up with one of those “ah-ha” moments. I want to be a “Gramma!” she exclaimed. She was quite confident her second choice was a winner. For although she doesn’t know any real princesses, she does know a Grandma, and she is real. In the eyes of a three year-old, the life of a Grandma seems comparable to those of a storybook princess. So maybe Grandma doesn’t dress in a beautiful gown and bejeweled crown. And perhaps, although some Grandpas’ would argue, even come with a handsome prince on her arm. But Grandma does possess all the magic and wonder of a princess. Perhaps it is the constant smile, the giggles, or the willingness to read stories and play games well past her Mother’s tolerance. Perhaps it is the unconditional hugs and kisses and little presents that appear when Grandma is around. Maybe just spending time with Grandma is like a fairy tale with an always happy ending. And so Mom, this Mother’s Day, it appears that becoming a Grandma is the happy ending (or beginning) to all the years and all the love. For not only in the eyes of a 3-year old, but her forty-something mother as well, you have officially risen to the place of Princess in our family. A mother’s infinite generous love can make fairy tales come true. So an extended “Happy Mother’s Day” to Princess Grandmas everywhere who too deserve the royal treatment for all the fairy tale days they have written and all those they have yet to write. To all the Princesses- Happy Mother's Day! till next time- Teri
