Mother's Day 2021

🌺 Mother's Day, 2021.
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I feel incredibly lucky right now — It has already been an amazing experience to watch firsthand this woman I love so much become a mother, and baby isn't even here yet.
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She's going to be a great mama; I see it everyday in the big ways, like how she's been nesting the house and preparing the nursery; but in the tiny ways, too, where she's slowly and softly rub her belly, when she doesn't know I'm watching, whispering comfort to the little one inside.
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I'm excited for every day of this; I'm carefully balancing the "hurry up already, little one, and come to papa" with the slow savoring of watching a belly get slightly bigger each morning as the sun creeps across the floor into our bedroom and onto both of them, asleep.
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I like these private, quiet times, that are just us two, in the morning. But also look so hope-filled forward to the times of three.
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I know Mother's Days are complicated for a lot of folks; and my relationship with my own mom is often contentiously complicated. You can't deny how much a combination of their presence and absence affects and molds how you are, who you are. It is different for each of us.
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There are people I know who want to be mothers and can't — and I'm thinking about them today, too.
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I watched my nearly 16-year-old—this amazing kid who I've seen grow so much during this last year alone—pick out things for his mother yesterday, and I felt lucky and privileged to be a part of that, too. Watching how much he loves her, wanting to make sure she knows how much—I tear up now thinking about it—and knowing how much she does him.
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That's what today is to me.
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A complicated, yet hopeful affair full of love for those I'm lucky enough to know.