It really hit me hard. All those years of thinking she was just trying to cramp my style to only discover that it was real, indescribable love only a mother knows. A real aha moment, y’all!

What I didn’t know on that day ten years ago was that was just the first of many motherly revelations. They’re never-ending really. It’s in the little things like how my son looks at me when I tell him he can only have one honey bun – the meanest! I feel it in my daughter’s heavy stomps and whines when I actually make her go to bed on time. Can you believe that? – what a horrible mom! (I bet she is totally flipping me the “W”hatever sign.) Sometimes, I even catch myself responding to them with “Because I am your mother” when dealt the ole’ reliable, “But whyyyyyyy, mom?”

I’ll tell ya, the most humbling moments are when I am faced with a sacrifice I must make for their betterment, and I quietly reflect on all the times my mom did the same. Maybe she didn’t splurge on that purse so I could have the trendy new Doc Martens like all the cool girls. Maybe she turned down a night out with her friends for a Friday night Blockbuster date with me instead. Maybe she walked away from someone she truly loved, because she knew it wasn’t the best life for me. Not for herself, for me – for her baby.