To every mom out there who has mixed feelings about Mother’s Day, I see you.

I hope that you can look past any pain this day brings up and find a spark of joy or contentment.

Each mother walks her own path. Sometimes the path is clear and easy and sometimes it’s overgrown and poorly marked.

Some days you feel loved and appreciated by your children and maybe even their other parent. And some days it feels like the most thankless job in the world.

Mother’s Day has been bittersweet for me since becoming a mom. Things did not go the way I thought they would. And I’ve learned to let go of all expectations of what Mother’s Day “should” look like.

Today, I focus on what my path of motherhood has given me:
• a greater understanding of how important it is to take care of myself
• living the reality that there is no universal experience of motherhood
• what it means to be selfless
• an experience of love I could not have had any other way
• acceptance of “good enough”
• the desire to be an example for someone
• the ability to pivot long before Covid made it a thing
• the courage to make the hard choices
and so much more

Even if today is not all rainbows and unicorns for you, what has motherhood given you that you can appreciate?