Today’s post is a bit different. I didn’t edit it. I didn’t revise it and refine my message. I wrote this after a particularly difficult night with Miss O – she’s 5, so there are a lot of those. It’s just my thoughts as they came to me; the ramblings of a tired mom.
Dear Miss O,
I have loved you since before you were born. I loved you through morning sickness and prenatal gas. I have loved you through your early arrival and 54 days in the NICU. I have loved you through preschool, summer camp, separation anxiety, and more stuffy noses than I can count.
I love you more fiercely than I ever thought possible.
I love you when you sing to me and when you scream at me.
I love you when you learn new things, and when you pretend you don’t know things to see if I’ll tell you the answer.
I love you when you smile and when you cry.
I love you when you’re sleeping and when you’re wide awake.
I would do anything for you. I would walk through fire, take a bullet, even try to learn Common Core math.
And because I love you…
I will say no, even when it’s easier to say yes.
I will set limits, even when you fight me on every. single. one.
I will let you figure things out on your own instead of giving you the answer, even when I really want to help.
I will make you do things for yourself instead of doing them for you, even though it takes soooo much longer.
I will tell you when you’re being rude/ bossy/ not nice, and expect you to do better in the future.
I will do things that will make you upset if I believe they’re in your best interest.
I will make you angry. I will make you sad. I will frustrate you beyond belief.
You will do the same to me.
And all of that is okay – it’s what I signed up for the day I became your mom – because no matter what, I will love you.
