My dad walked on my other side, Lily sleeping against his shoulder.
“You’re doing great, kiddo,” he murmured. “Mom would be so proud.”
And in that moment, I felt it — the unbroken chain of motherhood linking past to future. My mother to me to Lily. No one could take that away, not even Donna, with her three decades of experience.
Some lessons take a lifetime to learn. Others arrive in a single, perfect moment of clarity.
This was mine: I am a mother. New, yes. Learning, always. But no less deserving of celebration.
Because motherhood isn’t a competition with winners and losers. It’s a journey, painful and beautiful and utterly transformative.
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And next year?
Next year would be different. I’d make sure of it.
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