Sunday, June 24, 2012

All you need is love.

By the time you become a mom, you've experienced all kinds of love. The worshipping, then fractious love for your parents. The grudging, but protective love you have for your bratty younger sister. Your first playground crush. The no-one-understands-I'll-die-if-you-don't-let-me-see-him angst of teenage love. The love you promise until death do you part.

None of that prepares you for the love you feel when you learn you're pregnant. The minute that stick turned blue, and the doctor let me hear my daughter's heartbeat, I was a goner. I gave up caffeine cold turkey (HUGE for me). At about 3 months along, I switched from a job I loved that required me to work ridiculously long hours. I began, unconsciously, putting her first: decorating the nursery before all else in the new house; making career and life decisions that would provide best for her, keep her safest.

The first time my daughter was placed in my arms, it felt like saying hello to a lifelong friend, someone I'd loved for so long I didn't know a time when I didn't.

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