The big secret about motherhood is that no one has any idea what they’re doing.
Especially with those firstborns (sorry, Landon).
There are plenty of books and blog posts and pictures on your Instagram feed that may make you feel otherwise, like someone out there must have this thing figured out. But what they don’t show are all the ways we’re trying and feel like we’re failing; all the time we spend worrying over how we handled that question or tantrum or request for a seventeenth snack; all of the neurotic Google searches about things like developmental milestones and does this rash look normal?
The closest thing anyone has to an “expert” on motherhood is other mothers.
Other mothers have tried and failed and learned something. They can assure you that you’re fine and they’re fine and they know when that rash is actually hand, foot, and mouth disease so clean everything in your house and we’ll see you in a week.
Other mothers know the struggles of making it to bedtime on a Wednesday night. They’re the ones we text when it’s 3AM and one is throwing up while the other is ready to greet the day and you’re wondering how many cups of coffee it’s going to take to be a functional human being in the morning. They know that even though this part is hard, you’re going to miss it someday, so hold on tight.
The best example of motherhood is, of course, my own mother!
She’s such an incredible example of what it looks like to work hard, love selflessly and unconditionally, and makes this job look easy. She’s the encouragement I need when I feel like I’m doing this all wrong, the one I text for advice or just the reassurance that everyone is alive so I’m doing okay.
She’s the best Gigi in the world! She’s always up for a Justin Timberlake concert or a Birthmas trip or running across Washington Square Park in the middle of the night to make it to a comedy show 🙂 She constantly goes out of her way to take care of us, and we would all be lost without her.
Everyone jokes about the horrors of realizing you’re turning into your mother, but it turns out it isn’t so bad. If I can be half the mother she is, I’ll be doing okay.
Mommas, we’re all doing okay. To all the women who hold us up and keep us going, Happy Mother’s Day!
Erica the Great 