Sadness lingers

Maybe you don’t walk with your mom anymore

Maybe it’s been years, or days

You’re single and there’s no one to prompt your littles to love you extra special

Maybe you long for motherhood yourself

And though you’ve tried, there’s no baby to hold

Maybe your children are grown and flown

And you’re not sure where you fit

Maybe you held the hope inside you, but only for a little while

And maybe you’ve lived this over + over + over

Maybe you lost your child along the way

When they were so little

Or just on the turn of big things

Maybe you don’t know where your child is today

And you haven’t heard from them in a long time

Maybe you learned too late about being a good mom

When the hurt was already done

And you’d give anything to go back

Maybe your child has chosen a path that brings

Grief, sorrow, anguish, fear

And you can’t sleep at night wondering

Maybe you live in loss of your own childhood

Your mom was harsh, unloving, absent

Maybe she never looked at you the way a mom should

Maybe there’s always been a hole deep down

Maybe someone else taught you about being a girl or a boy

The rights of passage of becoming

Maybe you were always kept at arm’s length

Never allowed into the whole story

Wondering how all the pieces fit together

For the hearts out there, we see you

May you know that you are loved

Completely, fully, perfectly by the One who holds it all

In this time around Mother’s Day, may we understand that life is complex and beautiful, joyous and difficult, rare and common.

May we offer grace + mercy + love to everyone. We all need it.

xo Nicole