Motherhood Requires Bravery

Brave:  to endure or face unpleasant conditions without showing fear; showing courage.

I wish I were more brave.  In the brief time I have been a mom, that is one truth that continues to manifest itself before me:  Motherhood is hard; it requires bravery.

What do you do to stay brave?

I just dropped my first grader off at a Halloween costume party.  Complete with donuts, tons of boys and girls I don't even know, and a showing of "Hotel Transylvania."  I admit I was nervous to leave her.

So I sit here, on my unmade bed, with my fussy new babe; Adam Levine my only company as I watch a recorded episode of, "The Voice."  I cannot help but look at Bridget's tiny feet and remember when Lilly was that small.  She had tufts of hair on the tips of her ears.  She had pouty lips and wrinkly toes.

And now she is my "big girl;" a first grader, a heart breaker, a mover and a shaker.  She rides the bus and eats school lunch.  She goes to Halloween parties.  She does it without me.

Motherhood requires bravery.  We have to "show courage" enough to allow our children some independence.  How on earth do we let them go, mamas, when we long to keep them close?

We take deep breaths and pull up our boot straps.  We drop to our knees and whisper fervent prayers to heaven.  We soldier on, we hope on.  We remember that our children need opportunities to stretch and to "spread their wings."  That is how they learn.  That is the way they grow.  Hopefully, after we have done everything we can to raise them right, they'll fly.

And we'll see we really were brave all along.