Just getting started

A letter for one day...

⠀

You were right to think it was hard when they were younger.

Because it was.

Physically you were drained.

You will never feel that level of tired again.

Emotionally you were fragile.

You were in so deep.

But you made it.

Through the sleepless nights.

Through the long days where you wondered who you were outside the version so easily loved.

Through the early years of their life.

⠀

And they were right.

You miss it now.

You want to sit back here on the kitchen floor with their little body on yours, just one more time.

You want to see them look at you with that smile they save just for you, just one more time.

You want to be their answer and reason, just one more time.

⠀

You would give anything to go back,

And be as you were,

Just one more time.

⠀

Because you know now,

It did go so fast.

⠀

Suddenly they were babies, then toddlers, then preschoolers.

Suddenly they were at school, then high school and then out of home.

Suddenly everything you watched change right in front of you every day for many years was never the same.

⠀

There is a quietness in your days now.

You have more time.

You can hear yourself think.

You often wonder - what can I do next?

Because you are on the other side now.

Early motherhood is over.

⠀

But let me remind you, as you feel a little empty sometimes,

You are not over.

What you have with them is not either.

In fact,

You are just getting started.