Thankful to be we.

I think the moment you become a mother you no longer are just one person.  I think in the very first second that you are handed another life, a life you helped create and are now responsible for, you stop thinking as a individual and begin thinking as a collective.  These are my random stories as a collective.  Some of them are what you might call "ah-ha" moments that occur at the tail-end of a learning experience in which we can smile and realize that even if our world stopped in that next minute we would be satisfied that we had been successful in our roles as individuals and as parents.  There will be stories that almost brought me to my knees, sometimes actually physically to my knees.  I am sure many of you have been there in those moments where you find yourself wondering if you will find the strength to get up and if so from where, and if you do will your shattered heart ever beat the same.  Then there are the moments we live for, the moments that make the previous set all worth while - moments that are so full of joy and happiness you just know if you could bottle it up and sell it you'd be rich, and all those once broken pieces that despite the worst of odds you've managed to successfully piece back together are bursting at the seams with love and hope.  And lastly, the filler moments, the grey ones that are so mundane and repetitive you wonder how you remember them at all - but without them the value to all the others would be diminished so their value ends up being, in fact, equal.  Because they are all moments, which collectively, make me so very thankful to be me and we, and I hope my stories remind you to be thankful you are you and them.