Do you know you’re beautiful, Ms. Isabella? We, as women, sometimes question our worth, our beauty… We seek admiration by the way we dress, the way we talk, the choices we make. We want so bad to feel loved. Our heart cries for this attention, and when we don’t receive it, we criticize ourselves as though we didn’t reach the standard that we needed to achieve. We question if we are of value. Well, sweet child, I pray this is not a vice for you. I pray you know you don’t measure your worth with these shifting scales. You are beautiful… Because you are YOU.

On May 9, 2009 at 11:24pm I gave birth to a 4lb, 11oz son. The first time I held him I didn’t fully comprehend what it was to be a mom, and yet I knew I loved this child I carried for 36 weeks. The sacrifice, the devotion, the love had not sunk in as I confidently assumed mothering in its entirety would come as naturally as riding a bike… perhaps I was thinking of a bike with training wheels?