Here’s To the Moms

Here’s to the moms who spent last night rocking insomniac babies, who read this in a sleep-deprived haze wearing the same spit-up stained clothes they had on yesterday.

Here’s to the moms whose babies will graduate in a few short weeks, who would give anything to go back to the diaper days and hold those little ones one more time.

Here’s to the moms who work outside the home because they want to, because they know themselves well enough to understand that when they go out in the world as professionals, they return home better moms.

Here’s to the moms who work outside the home because they have to, who sacrifice for their families and spread themselves thin to provide a better life for their children.

Here’s to the moms who stay home, who dedicate their lives to their families and who never see a paycheck but who work tirelessly all the same.

Here’s to the moms whose own mothers were great role models, who showed them unconditional love and taught them how to be mothers.

Here’s to the moms whose own mothers were lacking or absent, either by choice or by chance, who had to teach themselves how to mother.

Here’s to the moms who have lost their own moms, who feel a void in their hearts that could only be filled with a mother’s love.

Here’s to the moms who never got to be moms, who longed for babies that were never born.

Here’s to the moms who have lost children, before or after they were born, who have endured unthinkable sorrow.

Here’s to the moms who adopted or fostered, who know that biology has nothing to do with being a mother.

Here’s to the moms who realized they couldn’t care for their children, who made the choice to give them a better life.

Here’s to the moms whose addictions and issues prevented them from being mothers to their own children, but who gave birth to children that other moms could love.

Here’s to the step-moms, who chose to open their hearts to the possibility of rejection but who loved their way through the struggles.

Here’s to the moms-to-be, the ones with growing bellies and hearts, with hopes and plans and dreams.

Here’s to the moms who said, “When I have kids I’ll never…” or “When I have kids I’ll always…” and who realized very quickly that motherhood changed everything.

Here’s to the moms who breastfed, to the moms who formula fed.  To the moms who were patient, to the moms who yelled.  To the moms who have one child, to the moms who have ten children.

Happy Mother’s Day, mamas, all of you.  You are incredible.  And you are so very, very loved.