Today, more than ever, I am convinced that nothing will ever compete with a mother’s love. I always knew my mom loved me, but could not grasp the depths of that love until I had my own children.
I loved Caity from the moment of conception and that love grew and grew with each passing month of my pregnancy. The day she was born I wept and wept, sobbing in fact. Shawn and Isabel asked if I was still in a lot of pain after a difficult birth. But my tears were not tears of pain. The joy I felt was so overwhelming it could not be expressed anyway other than with tears, buckets of tears.
To see her perfect little hands and feet and the way she looked at me. I knew she recognized me from my voice. If she could talk I think she would have said, “Ah, ha, the voice of that place that protected me, fed me, sang to me and loved me from the inside out.”
And like in my womb, the instinct to nourish, love and protect my daughter has always been fierce.
Recently, Caity had something unfortunate happen to her. She was cut from a school dance team that she was told she would be part of for the entire year. Worse, she was made to stay on the team and essentially be a cheerleader for the rest of the squad.
First, I went to the dance teacher and asked her to allow Caity off the team. She said “no”. Then Shawn and I met with the Assistant Principal and he said “no”.
Shawn and I knew that we were right in our fight for Caity and we weren’t going to stop until she got what she deserved. Lucky for us, the Principal agreed with our concerns and agreed to a schedule change. Not only that, but the dance handbook is being rewritten and even the way the dance program runs is being revised for next year. The thrill of victory….
Normally I hate confrontation, but this was different. I was prepared to do anything to protect my baby. My instincts kicked in like a mama bear protecting her cub in the wild. Or like the woman who protected her baby by blowing a hole through an intruder with her shotgun.
At the end of all this heartache is an incredible life lesson for me and my family. Make sure your children know that you will go to bat for them at all costs. That even though they are kids they should never be bullied into anything that isn’t “right”. To never take “no” for an answer.
I married the most wonderful man in the whole world. I am forever grateful to Shawn for his love and support, but mostly because he has given me four incredible children and the opportunity to learn time and time again, “A mother’s love is an unrivaled force of nature.”
