My Greatest Gift

greatest gift

It’s Thursday so that must mean it’s time for Mama Kat’s Almost World Famous Writer’s Workshop.  This week I’m kind of combining two of them because to me they go together.  I’ve chosen prompts 1.) You know you’re a mother when…and 2.) The best gift ever!

I knew I was a mother the moment my first daughter was laid in my arms.  I knew for years that was what I was meant to do and it was a culmination of something I’d always wanted.  And … it was the best gift ever.  A gift from God and I felt a gift from my husband because he gave me something no one else ever had or would. God gave me the gift of LIFE and my husband gave me the gift of A life. I knew he was the only man I wanted to marry and have children with and for us to create a life together, a living breathing little human was just nothing short of a miracle to me.  I knew from that moment my life’s goal.  I knew what I was meant to do.  I meant to be a mother.

Me with #2 in the hospital

Before I became a mom I had spent a lot of time caring for and nurturing (or I thought I was nurturing anyway) my little sister and my nieces and nephews.  I may have grumbled and complained about having to watch them but I secretly loved every minute of it. I loved everything about kids and couldn’t wait to have my own.

With #1 when she was a couple of weeks old

And I knew from the moment I looked into my kids’ eyes that my life’s work was to love them and protect them. To honor and cherish them and to do everything in my power to be the best mom possible.  Sure I screwed up a bunch and I did a lot of things wrong but I think I was (and am) the best mom that I possibly can be. Perfectly imperfect.  I would do anything in the world for my kids and anything I can to make them happy.

And now that they all three are grown women of their own merit and responsibility, I am so proud every time I look at them.  Not just because they are gorgeous young women but because they are just as gorgeous on the inside as they are on the outside.

No, they are not perfect.  They have also made mistakes but they are good people. They are kind and loving and caring and generous and hard working.  They try to do the right thing.  They do things for other people and they don’t think only of themselves.  They make their own livings and they work hard.

With #3 when she was a couple of months old

Whatever path life takes them on I know they will flourish and they will prosper and I know in some small way that’s because I did my job.  I was (and am) their mother and by golly I must have done something right because they all turned out just perfect.  Perfectly imperfect.  They each have their own personalities and quirks and they are all wonderful.

Me, Hubby and our girls a couple of years ago

And if God ever decides it’s time, and they by some miracle decide to have children of their own, I know they will be perfectly imperfect moms, just like me!  And I know that I will have had a hand in perpetuating that myth and miracle of being a mom.  And if I die tomorrow, I know I can die happy knowing that I have passed along those abilities and sensibilities to my own children so that some day they may pass them on to theirs. They too can have the greatest gift ever and know that they are a mom.