LIFELINE

It can be so easy to forget your strength as a mother.

The physical and mental exhaustion, which rarely gives up, can leave you weak at the knees.
Yet despite this, you keep walking.

The lack of time for yourself can make for frayed edges and holey pockets.
Yet despite this, you keep holding yourself together.

The constant reliance that others place on you, as well as the pressure you place on yourself,m can be a very heavy load to bear.
Yet despite this, you keep carrying it all.

And you do it all for love.
The most amazing love in the world.
The love rooted in your why.

But despite your memory failing you,
Despite it being preoccupied helping make someone’s childhood memories,
Don’t forget your strength.
Because, Mama, there is so much strength in you.
You ARE strong.

Remember,

You grew a human.
Your body literally formed life.
It was your blood, your skin, your heart, your choices every day that gave life a chance.
Because of you there is another human or humans walking this earth.
Because of you, there is another grandchild, sister, cousin, son.
Because of you human life continues.

Remember,

You carried a human.
Your body was the vessel.
It stretched, tired, and changed for someone else.
To give that someone a home, a safe place, a haven of security.
To give that someone everything they didn’t know they needed.
And you pushed through the hard.
Through the sickness, the heaviness, the discomfort.
Your body on the line at every single stage because you saw the bigger picture,
Of them walking with you, beside you, their home eventually in your arms.

Remember,

You birthed a human.
However you birthed a human, you did it.
You were torn, or cut open.
You were pushed to your limits physically and mentally to endure the life-changing intensity that is birth.
And there was so much pressure on you.
Life was literally in your hands.
But you did it.
You got there.
You made it.
You made them.

Remember,

You are a lifeline.
In the early stages you feed them, you change them, you bath them, you burp them, you settle them.
You do every single thing for them.
Because they need you.
They are vulnerable.
They see only you.
And as they get older, and start needing you less, things change.
But you are still a lifeline.
You sort, your prepare, you think about everything they may have missed.
You are there for them no matter what.
And that doesn’t change.

Remember,

You are raising the future.
Whether you are at home with your children, working at home with your children, or working away from your children, what you are doing is important.
Whether you have one child or five, supports or not, it doesn’t change the fact that what you are doing is nothing short of extraordinary.

Don’t forget your strength Mama.
You ARE strong.
You ARE capable.
You ARE a lifeline.

Written by Emma Heaphy for Mumli