–
Peanut butter vomit erupted from his beautiful face like lava from a volcano, inches away from my head as we laid on a giant Teddy Bear. Tosca and I had been dating a few short weeks and not spent a single day apart from our first date. I wasn’t going anywhere, especially while our precious baby boy was feeling ill. I’d never been a parent to a human child before that time, and was not starting off by being absent from the challenging and unpleasant moments.
Most early days had these types of challenging moments, morning teeth brushing and bedtime could be filled with screams. A missed day of medication is hell for everyone, especially him. Most days are pleasant and beautiful, he hugs and kisses us out of nowhere, seeks approval and information, guidance and knowledge that feeds his insatiable curiosity. Some days, the doctor’s office and pharmacy have a miscommunication and we miss a day of medication. In those days, he feels out of control, can’t “make it go away,” followed by nights of no sleep, screams at the top of his lungs and crashes in the depths of full body sweats.
MomdadBethmom is what he started calling me in addition to Beth. Now it’s Momma, Beth, MommaBeth and BethBeth. We’ve not given him any rules on naming conventions for me, the only rule is he can’t call Tosca by her first name, because calling your mother by her first name is straight up disrespectful. In fact, take a pause reading this right now to call your mom and ask her how her day is going. Ask her how she’s doing and tell her you appreciate her. She might cry or ask if you’re okay, and that’s okay. Tell her you’re reading someone’s blog post and you were reminded of how amazingly wonderful she is.
Parenting and being responsible for another human’s well-being often goes by unthanked, unappreciated and unrecognized. Whether you were raised by your biological parents, your grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, step-parents, foster parents, you get the picture—call them during the holidays, thank them for what they’ve done for you, tell them how much you appreciate their love, effort, affection, guidance, lessons and energy on making you who you are.
I used to be afraid of saying thank you, and now employ genuine appreciation in my everyday language and attitude. It makes an absolute world of difference, and it’s something I’m passionate about sharing with others.
Photo by Fezbot2000 on Unsplash