It never goes away — those feelings you described. My sons are grown with children of their own and I STILL get the heart clench and misty eyes. When my sister’s last child left home and she was officially an empty nester like me, she said “It never ends, does it?” Nope; it never does.
That joy-empathy-scared feeling! It keeps coming back. I'm still feeling it with my teenagers as they navigate friendships and schedules and hurts and (gasp) looking at colleges.
I desperately wanted to be a mother. You are right, nothing prepared me for the intense heartache I experience everyday. Whether from fear, empathy or pride. It’s constant. It doesn’t let up. It is exactly like what people say, “it is like your heart is walking around outside of your body.”
I have been working with pregnant, birthing women and new parents for all of my career. You are right, there are no words for the powerful feelings. Unfortunately I hear, more and more, about how 'hard' parenting is, how it has impacted their life, negatively. I spend a lot of energy on convincing them how wonderful and amazing, and what a privilege it is to be a parent.
My 2 sons are in their late 30's. I was treated to a very special mothers day and tried to stop myself from crying - with joy and overwhelming love and I also, don't have words.
And just between you and I, there are times when I just want to hold them in my arms and protect them. There is a quote I really love that I sent to each of them at some point in those challenging teenage years, please feel free to use at your discretion! - "if you've ever done me wrong, know that my Mum knows, and she doesn't like you"!
Perfect description of the feeling. There’s delight tinged with the wistfulness of constant letting-go. It hurt my heart the first time I recognized that the letting-go would come
I so feel you on the stomach bug, just so much deep empathy. My 3 year old brought it home had it for 5 days, promptly followed my 5 year old having the same thing as soon as the first one was better. They were so sick! Totally took me off guard. I can’t imagine dealing with that with a newborn! Good grief.
Welcome to real life motherhood, all the things that challenge us and amaze us. The best part is watching them grow and learn and understand things in their lives. Thank God that your children are healthy. I always did (but by the grace of God). ❤️
Every morning my 3yo asks what day it is, and what we do on that day. Sundays we have dinner at Grandma's house. As soon as I say Sunday she BOUNDS out of bed yelling "time to go to Grandma's!!" And all day long, randomly, "let's get ready for Grandma!" We tell her baby sister has to take 2 naps before we go to Grandma's, and that part never sticks 😂
I couldn’t agree more. Parenting makes my soul writhe and I both love and hate it.
It never goes away — those feelings you described. My sons are grown with children of their own and I STILL get the heart clench and misty eyes. When my sister’s last child left home and she was officially an empty nester like me, she said “It never ends, does it?” Nope; it never does.
That joy-empathy-scared feeling! It keeps coming back. I'm still feeling it with my teenagers as they navigate friendships and schedules and hurts and (gasp) looking at colleges.
I still feel it with my 2 mid-to-late 20-something boys
I still feel it, and my kids are 41 to 46. Now feel it with grandkids, too.
I desperately wanted to be a mother. You are right, nothing prepared me for the intense heartache I experience everyday. Whether from fear, empathy or pride. It’s constant. It doesn’t let up. It is exactly like what people say, “it is like your heart is walking around outside of your body.”
My 2-year-old granddaughter calls me an approximation of Grandma, but recently started calling her grandpa…Ga-Ga!
I have been working with pregnant, birthing women and new parents for all of my career. You are right, there are no words for the powerful feelings. Unfortunately I hear, more and more, about how 'hard' parenting is, how it has impacted their life, negatively. I spend a lot of energy on convincing them how wonderful and amazing, and what a privilege it is to be a parent.
My 2 sons are in their late 30's. I was treated to a very special mothers day and tried to stop myself from crying - with joy and overwhelming love and I also, don't have words.
And just between you and I, there are times when I just want to hold them in my arms and protect them. There is a quote I really love that I sent to each of them at some point in those challenging teenage years, please feel free to use at your discretion! - "if you've ever done me wrong, know that my Mum knows, and she doesn't like you"!
Perfect description of the feeling. There’s delight tinged with the wistfulness of constant letting-go. It hurt my heart the first time I recognized that the letting-go would come
In constant waves.
Yes, I know this feeling well.. it makes my heart ache 🥺
I so feel you on the stomach bug, just so much deep empathy. My 3 year old brought it home had it for 5 days, promptly followed my 5 year old having the same thing as soon as the first one was better. They were so sick! Totally took me off guard. I can’t imagine dealing with that with a newborn! Good grief.
Welcome to real life motherhood, all the things that challenge us and amaze us. The best part is watching them grow and learn and understand things in their lives. Thank God that your children are healthy. I always did (but by the grace of God). ❤️
😭
You described this feeling I feel so deeply and don't have a language for so beautifully, thank you!
Every morning my 3yo asks what day it is, and what we do on that day. Sundays we have dinner at Grandma's house. As soon as I say Sunday she BOUNDS out of bed yelling "time to go to Grandma's!!" And all day long, randomly, "let's get ready for Grandma!" We tell her baby sister has to take 2 naps before we go to Grandma's, and that part never sticks 😂
As a Grandma, that makes me smile. So precious!