to the mamas.

Over the years, my love of Mother’s Day has shifted, changed & evolved - like most things.

Before I had kids, it was a day I looked forward to celebrating my own mom who was and still is, one of the most relentlessly determined human beings I’ve ever come across in my life.

Things have not always gone her way and she has had tremendous battles in front of her most of her life, yet she continues to simply be determined to forge ahead regardless. Once I was old enough to buy her gifts and do nice things for her, I loved Mother’s Day as a chance to celebrate her. I remember writing elaborate cards and making brightly colored, happy pictures to hang near the washer and dryer to cheer her up when she was doing laundry lol. I tried to help her because I saw how hard her life was on a day to day basis. I was also at the exact same time, a giant pain in the a** for her! One year when I was in my late 20’s and finally earning a decent living, I took her to Chicago for a girls weekend. It is one of my favorite memories of us together.

And then when I I was lucky enough to have my own kids, I realized that not only was my mom the glue in my life, she was basically a superhero. As you become a mom yourself, you realize over and over how hard your own mom worked to bring you up in the world. You are flying high with the rainbows one mama moment and then the next moment, brought to your knees because there isn’t enough of you to go around. And you witness your friends and other women you admire, experiencing the same. As the years go by, that full range of emotion continues - what takes you low and what lifts you high changes - but the spectrum of vivid, powerful emotions that can unfold within one hour as a mom, continue.

Being a mom is like that. The greatest, hardest, heart opening, energy draining, life-enhancing, warrior in the grocery store, badass laundry sergeant, most devoted fan lined up next to the most empowering coach, the cheerleader waving her pom poms for the most mini moments of goodness but then laying down the rules to keep the guardrails up the next moment. It is truly all of it and more.

Being a mom is like yoga. It makes you more of who you already are and is a never-ending, always-changing, ever-evolving practice. And similar to yoga in that as a mom, you want to be surrounded by others who lift you up and remind you of your gifts and talents. And being a mom is just like yoga in that it isn’t about what you get from your mom-ing, but who you get to become as you raise these tiny humans into big giants who will go out into the world and light it up with their goodness and gifts.

For all of you moms out there, close your eyes for a moment. Take a deep breath in and a long breath out. You are doing God’s work. You are doing a great job. With every moment of your mom-ing, you are a difference maker. Good job you.

And then take another deep breath in and long breath out and honor all of the other moms - especially those who have experienced loss. We need each other.

Big love,
Tammy