Have you ever read or heard of this lovely quote by Kobi Yamada? “Sometimes you just have to take the leap and build your wings on the way down?” I can think of several instances in my life when this was my story and most of them can be attributed to my motherhood experience. As natural and instinctive as we deem this status to be, the reality is there is very little in our pre-parenthood lives that prepare us for the life-altering role when it arrives.
For some, it is braving the birthing experience itself when the building begins, but for almost everyone it is the first few hazy days of calling ourselves mommy when one courageous event blurs into the next. Yet, we trudge forward. One day at a time, we grow the wings we need to stay afloat and do what needs to be done, even if it is the bare minimum.
Sometimes when the good days present themselves, we actually can make wearing our wings look fairly comfortable and even pretty. This is every mother’s story. Regardless of how adequate or not we judge ourselves to be, the demands of parenting leave us no choice but to grow the wings we need to address the needs of our little ones. It is only one of the many, many courageous acts of motherhood we perform, and yet, it is probably one of the most important. Let’s give ourselves credit.