A circle of love...

My mom—she is beautiful.

She is patient.

She is selfless.

She works hard.  (Really hard.)

She forgives.

She perseveres.

She is kind.

She believes in the good in others.

She adores her family.

She cooks with love.

She is strong.

She has shown me how to be a mother.  The best kind of mother.  Because I watched her strive for years to show my brother and me how to be ourselves, reach for the stars (while keeping our feet on the ground), stand up for those who can't stand up for themselves, dance to the beat of our own drums, and love with reckless abandon.  She worked full time, but she spent every bit of her free time being with us.  Cooking for us.  Reading to us.  Loving us.  

As we grew up, I watched her slowly and deliberately pull her hands away from the backs of our bicycles, letting us pedal our little feet as fast as we could, while always being there to pick us back up when we fell.  She stood back and watched us shine, giving us the freedom we needed to become who we are now.

It would have been so much easier for her if she had just stirred the chocolate chips in herself.  And sounded out every word for us.  And told us what decisions we should make and how to make them.  It must have taken a whole lot of restraint (and prayer) to let us try for ourselves so that we could learn what we are capable of.

Here I am now with a little girl of my own.  Learning what a difficult and incredible and beautiful thing it is to be a mother.  Learning how to let Grace discover what she is capable of.

And I hope I can become a fraction of the mother my mom is.