I always dreamed of being a mother, of my children, and of the kind of mother I would be to them. These dreams were spun in my childhood and carried with me into adulthood, shaped by the mother I wanted and the one I needed.

As a young professional, I was career-driven, ambitious, and focused. But even then, the dream of motherhood never left me. When my first child was born, I finally understood what it meant to love someone so completely. To know instantly, that their needs would always surpass my own.

When my second came along, I chose to pause my career, thinking I was simply stepping off the fast track for a little while. To find balance and harmony in motherhood, I realized we needed. I didn’t realize then that those were the easy moments….the calm before the storm.

Now, as my youngest is preparing to turn 14, I look back and see a journey I could never have imagined. I am bone tired and even that phrase doesn’t quite capture the depth of exhaustion that seeps into every part of yourself. The emotions run deep: wonder, questioning, second-guessing, guilt, and a constant, quiet hope that maybe, just maybe, I’m getting some of it right.

There are days I wonder if I have the strength to keep pushing forward. But I must, because that’s what mothers do. We carry the weight of our families on our shoulders, making decisions that feel impossibly heavy, but you know must be made.

The hardest part to accept is that I can’t control everything. I can’t guarantee the outcome. I can only love, guide, and show up, over and over again… through every storm.

Why am I sharing this? Because motherhood is not a straight path. It’s a series of storms, calm seas, and uncertain skies. But every storm, no matter how fierce, eventually does run out of rain!

And when it does, even for a few moments, you can only hope you’ve grown stronger, wiser, and somehow, more yourself.

To every mother out there weathering her own storm: hold on. The rain will stop. The storm will cease. And you’ll see that even in the chaos, you were never truly lost….you were becoming the parent your child needed.