When you feel like you’re doing everything, like every obstacle hits you before it hits anyone else. The responsibilities fall on you; the mistakes are yours. You wolf down whatever’s left at lightning speed. You don’t sit down for even two minutes. You smell like old cheese with a floral scent on top. Your dark circles make you look 10 years older.
All of this means you’re probably a Mom with a capital M. In a way, that’s your diagnosis for the rest of your life—and yes.
The sweet and sexy moments are long gone. You even catch yourself daydreaming about them sometimes, when you still have a glimmer of hope that they might come back. Other people’s lives always seem perfect—and enviable, too—or at least that’s what you want to believe. And your partner forgets about you, too; your libido takes a hit, because that’s your only option. To move on, you have to resign yourself to it, accept it. After all, what matters is your children’s love. You’ll be there for them, and they’ll be there for you, no matter what happens.
Those years when you’ll feel important, when your children will need your advice, your stories about what you’ve been through and how you managed to get through it. You, Mom, will take on this new role as Grandma. Their confessions about the hardships they’re facing and their sorrows will make you feel that, to them, you’re a pillar of strength and that they think of you as soon as things go wrong.
You’ll be a role model, and I swear—for a mother’s heart that has so often felt alone—you’ll embrace that gratitude. The ultimate joy is that your grandchildren will also help ease the moments that were so hard; they’ll make you feel alive again, running, smiling. Cherish the life choice you made a few years ago.
Take care
So! Make yourself a good cup of coffee—you deserve it—because only you can never forget yourself.