Dearest Mama,

Because you are you, I am me.

For all my life, you have nurtured me, loved me unconditionally and believed in my gifts.

You encouraged me to try whatever my heart called me to do.

You taught me that there wasn’t such a thing as failure, and that I could do anything my spirit wanted.

You taught me that life was a grand adventure to be explored and enjoyed.

For twenty-seven years (plus the nine months I lived in your womb), you have dedicated yourself to making me feel safe, loved, inspired and becoming the best me I could be.

You have given the same to my four precious siblings, and your three (nearly four) grandchildren.

You have nourished hundreds of other children as a childcare teacher & support worker.

You have shown me – just with the way you are – that motherhood is a gift, is a joy and can be as fun as you want it to be.

Even now, when I see you with children and your grandchildren, I see the way you light up from the inside out, and how they see that they make you light up, and they light up too.

Your love has always been the safe place in my life and my world.

Even now, as I become a Mama, I see this unbroken link of love and comfort. You still radiate to me your love and joy, giving me the safe place to be as I am. Even now, as I become a Mama, I realise just how much I still need my own Mama. At 27, you still tell me that everything is going to be okay, and that I can do anything I want… and I believe you.

You believed that your soul purpose this life was to be a Mother.

I want you to know that because you are you, I am me.

And when I told you this, you said:

When I became a Mother at nineteen, that is when I found myself. That’s when I learned my lessons. In becoming a Mother, I became myself.

I hope I can give my own child the same unconditional love you gave me, over and over. I hope I can teach them how loved they are, just for being who they are. I hope I can give them the gift of themselves because I am me.

Thank you for being my mama, mama.

I am so grateful we chose each other.

With all my love & beyond…