Something about staring at my beautiful little granddaughter, brings me back 21 years to when her daddy was a baby. Her parents love her so much. I remember that feeling as a new mom, discovering how much I could love another human being. Surely, I thought I couldn't love him any more than I did that day he was born. I was wrong. The older my child got, the more I loved him. Then more children came and I loved them so much, as well!
How it works is, you love them more when they are grown up and moving away from you than when they first came to you. So, my kids (if you are reading this), cut your mom some slack if she seems kind of clingy lately. This mom job is tough. You just wait and see!
And as long as I'm on the subject of love and kids and sappiness, I might as well just keep going.
You know how wonderful it is when your little toddler or five year old says they love you? They're so sweet. They believe you are perfect. They think you've hung the stars and the moon and that you can do no wrong. It is a sweet thing to hear, but they love who they think you are, not who you really are.
Do you know what's sweeter? To hear your teenage child say, "I love you, Mom." Because they no longer think you're perfect. They are quite certain of that. They don't even think you're right much of the time. You embarrass them. You correct them. You blog about them. They've seen you get angry. They've seen you fail. They've seen you give up. They've seen you in your leopard print bathrobe. So when they say they love you, they love who you really are, and that is FAR sweeter.
