Twenty Years From Now....

Written for Mother's Day 2024

Twenty years from now, it's not going to matter how much or how little you had in your bank account while raising your family.

All that your kids will remember is that they had a roof over their head, heat in winter and air in summer, and clothes on their back.

It's not going to matter if you were able to afford all organic, or if you made mac and cheese and frozen pizza.

All that your kids will remember is that they were fed, with full bellies.

Twenty years from now, your kids won't remember if their mom was fat or skinny, tall or short.

All that they will remember is how warm your hugs were, and how they loved to snuggle close to your "comfy body."

Twenty years from now, your kids won't care how much or how little you spent on Christmas.

All they will remember are all the traditions that you did as a family- trips to Grandma's house, making cookies, looking at Christmas lights, decorating the tree, unwrapping gifts- even if they were "only" gifts from the Dollar Store.

Twenty years from now, your kids won't remember if you had hobbies or outside interests, because they just assumed that your entire world revolved around them, and, honestly, it did.

Twenty years from now, they won't remember many of their athletic games or the outcomes- all that they will remember is when they looked into the crowd, you were there cheering them on.

They'll remember the late night talks. The food on the table. The clean house. The clean laundry.

They'll remember how you dropped everything to focus on the current drama or catastrophe that was unfolding in their teenage life.

They'll remember you playing Judge and Jury- hearing both sides of sibling rivalry and declaring a verdict.

They'll remember you teaching them life lessons, talking, encouraging, chiding, and loving on them.

They'll remember you homeschooling them, helping them with their homework, teaching them how to read and do math and think logically.

Twenty years from now, things will begin to make sense, when they start a family of their own.

Suddenly, things become a little clearer when they realize that they were indeed your whole world.

Twenty years from now, they'll see the sacrifice that motherhood demands.

The sleepless nights.

The worry, the care, the love that was poured into them.

The mom guilt. Wondering if you were doing enough, being enough, loving enough.

The doing without. Putting dreams and ambitions on pause so that you could focus on the most important thing- raising a good family.

Twenty years from now, all the trivial things will fade as they look at you- their mom.

They will remember all the good of their childhood and teen years and know that you were the reason for the good.

Keep loving your kids, Mamas- keep pouring yourself into them.

You are truly doing a great work, and twenty years from now, your kids will finally begin to see how much you love them.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you selfless, giving Mamas.

It's all worth it to those kids you are raising in your home.