To Harper

My Little Love,
   On Sunday I will  get to celebrate my second Mother's Day with you.  This time last year you were just a tiny colic-ridden wee one, but oh what a wonderful day it was.  An extraordinary year has passed and I'm writing now to say "Thank you, my darling."

   Thank you for making me a mother.  This is the most precious and the most fulfilling role I have ever, in my 26 years on this earth, had bestowed upon me.  Obviously, my other roles in life as daughter-sister-niece and wife have all been ones that I have taken great pride in.  Yet they were ones that I was either born into or signed a piece of paper to get.  Not that that diminishes their value to me.  

But cradling you in my womb for nine months and then giving birth to you was such an active thing that I feel I earned the title of "Momma."   But more than that, even, is how much of a woman I have become in this last year.  

I know I have told you before that I feel stronger now that I'm a mother.  I can't help but reiterate that fact.  I have never felt so completely woman until I had you.  I feel as though I could take on anything; as though no challenge were too big.  If you needed the moon for whatever reason, I'm pretty darn sure I could get it for you.  That's how strong I feel.  

I have grown so much in this last year.  When I look back even six months ago I know I'm a different person now.  But my oh my, the woman I was last year or even the year before is most definitely not the woman I am now.  This woman is confident.  This woman will take on things she never thought possible and believe in herself enough to know she can do it.  This woman has self-confidence and self-worth that she never thought possible.  Most of all, this woman is lucky enough to have a love she never thought possible.  Some days it's a wonder that I don't split down the middle from all the love and happiness I hold within me.

So to you, my little love, thank you.  Without you I would probably never know what it is to be truly happy.  I would probably never know what it is like to be so at peace with myself.  Without you, well, I wouldn't be a mother.

 To all the lovely, wonderful women who read this blog, I wish you all a fabulous Mother's Day!