Fourteen years ago today I became a mother.  When I think of my life, it is split into two acts.  Before and after I had children.

Of course things like labour and feeding and sleepless nights and scattered thinking are hard when the baby first arrives.  But as they grow it’s the questioning yourself.  Did I make the right choice as a parent?  Are they ready for the world?  Will their heart and goodness be safe on the journey? Will they find their tribe and their passion and their joy?

It doesn’t matter how old our children get, we will always wonder if they are doing okay.  As English poet Robert Browning once said, “Motherhood: All love begins and ends there.”

I hope my children find their calling, believe in themselves, embrace failure, seek growth and make change.  I try to lead by example, but I also know that each of my children have their own thoughts, goals and dreams.  As Lebanese-American writer Kahlil Gibran once said:

“Your children are not your children.
They are sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you.
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.”

Motherhood has challenged me, changed me and framed the way I see the world. I am so grateful for the opportunity and I hope that I can do what all mothers want to do.  Give our children roots to know where they came from and wings to soar.