The Gift of Being and Having a Mom
Motherhood is an adventure. It’s beautiful, exhausting, confusing, and sacred all at once. There is no handbook for how to do it perfectly, no checklist for how to raise a child without getting lost in the process. However, one truth stays constant through it all: to be a mom, or to have one, is a gift—sometimes complicated, but always profound.
There are also the mothers who became moms when they didn’t want to be. That truth deserves space, too. Not every woman stepped into motherhood with open arms—some were pushed, some stumbled, some never felt ready. And yet, they carried on. They raised children while navigating resentment, grief for the life they lost, or simply confusion about how they were supposed to feel.
That doesn’t make them less loving, less worthy, or less real. It makes them human. There is courage in that, too—the courage to stay, to try, to show up in whatever way they could. Even if the love came slowly or looked different, it still mattered.
There’s something humbling about motherhood that strips away illusions. You stop pretending to be perfect because children see right through that. They don’t need a perfect mom—they need a present one. They need a mom who can admit when she’s wrong, who loses her temper and then apologizes, who doesn’t always have the answers but refuses to stop trying.
It takes courage to mother. Courage to forgive yourself for the times you lost your patience. Courage to keep loving when you feel empty. Courage to grow, to change, to look in the mirror and face the person you are becoming—not just as a mom, but as a whole human being.
We don’t talk enough about how hard it is. The sleepless nights. The silent battles. The days where everything feels like too much. But somehow, we get through. We make mistakes. We stumble. We cry behind closed doors. And still, we rise.
Motherhood isn’t just about giving to a child. It’s about discovering parts of yourself you didn’t know existed. Strength you didn’t know you had. Tenderness you didn’t know could run so deep. It's about grace—grace for your child, grace for the journey, and grace for yourself.
If you have a mom, even one who wasn’t perfect, try to see her humanity. She likely did the best she could with what she knew. She had her own struggles, her own scars, her own hopes that may have never been spoken out loud. She was once just a girl with dreams too.
And if you are a mom—look in the mirror with love. You are not failing. You are growing. You are loving. You are showing up, day after day, even when it's hard. And that means more than perfection ever could.
To be a mom, to have a mom—it’s not always easy. But it is, without question, one of life’s most sacred gifts. One I am forever grateful to have experienced.
For those who have lost their mom, Mother’s Day and memories can hit like a wave—sometimes gentle, sometimes crushing. Grief doesn’t follow a calendar, and missing your mom can show up in the smallest moments: a smell, a song, a phrase only she used to say. Whether your relationship was close or complicated, her absence leaves a space no one else can quite fill.
Hold that space with tenderness. Your love for her didn’t end when she passed—it just changed form. She lives on in your words, your laugh, the way you love others. And that is a quiet kind of forever.
