A Letter For Mom

My blog today is a letter written to my dear Mom on Mother's Day weekend. A letter that really truly highlights the new found appreciation most Moms feel for their own Moms when they begin their own motherhood journey. Perhaps my open letter will be relatable to how you are feeling this Mother's Day. Dear Mom, It's Mother's Day weekend and I'm sitting here missing you. Our family, like so many families have been separated by this seemingly never-ending pandemic. It feels like a lifetime ago that we were able to connect in person, technology has been amazing during the pandemic but it will never replace the act of being together in person. Technology will never replace the feeling I get from giving you a good bear hug or a kiss on the cheek. It's been 328 days since we were last together but it feels like a lifetime. This Mother's Day while I sit in bed drinking my hot coffee and reading my homemade cards a big part of me feels like I've been robbed...a big part of me feels like time has been stolen from me by the pandemic. Time that should have been spent with you. Time my kids should have been visiting your house to spend time with their Nana and Papa. My kids know there are ALWAYS cookies in Nana's kitchen and they can always count on her to crawl into bed with them and read bedtime stories. If there is anything this pandemic has taught me it's just how precious time together really is. I will never again take our family visits for granted, I now know things in life are never guaranteed. I used to absolutely dread our long family road trips to Alberta. In my defense, I don't know many mothers who love packing up their entire house and squeezing into the family vehicle for a full day car trip. Family road trips are quickly annoying with phrases like, “Are we there yet?” or another classic “She's looking at me again.” Thanks to this pandemic, I now long for the day when we can pack the kids up to take the long road trip to visit you (622km to be exact). This Mother's Day we are separated by many miles, and honestly I'm jealous of everyone who can easily celebrate their Mom. While this pandemic has left me feeling extremely isolated away from my family, I now have such an incredible hope that by the end of summer we will finally be able to reunite. This Mother’s Day I can't show up to surprise you or buy you an extravagant gift but what I can do is share my heart with you in this letter. I want to thank you for everything... and I do mean everything you did for my sister's and I over the years. First and foremost, thank you for all the sleep you sacrificed over the years. As a Mom currently neck deep in the trenches of parenting, I have such an appreciation for all your sleepless nights. All the nights you checked for monsters, calmed us after scary nightmares, navigated sick kids and found our favorite stuffed animal because the other hundred just wouldn't suffice. As I headed towards my teenage years, I know you stayed up many nights worrying about my relationship and life choices. You spent many nights and early mornings in prayer over your kids. Thank you for sacrificing your sleep over the years to make us feel loved and well cared for. I want to thank you for all the time you sacrificed for our family. As a mom of young children, I have such an appreciation for how much time and energy goes into events and special occasions. Thank you for everytime you baked a birthday cake, everytime you hung the streamers and blew up the birthday balloons. Thank you for making time to bake cookies with us at Christmas, and for creating holiday traditions that I have carried on into my own family today. Thank you for giving us your time. I can't celebrate you without thanking you for always putting us first. It didn't matter how busy you and Dad were with work, you always found time for family. You always considered our happiness when making career changes, decisions that would at times move us many miles. Money was always tight in our family, but somehow we always had what we needed and extras. You always seemed calm and collected that everything would fall into place, but I'm sure behind the scenes you regularly fell apart from the stress. Thank you for always choosing us over million other things. As a child and teenager, I had no real appreciation for the many things you did for our family or the sacrifices you made over the years. When I think back to celebrating Mother's day growing up, I remember bringing you breakfast in bed and running into your room with all our homemade gifts and cards. We were always so proud of the things we had made for you at school. Dad always made sure Mother's day was exceptional, Dad knew just how much you did for our family. So this weekend I will drink my coffee in bed and feel the love in each and every homemade gift.... knowing one day when my children are grown with kids of their own they will too have a new appreciation for the sleepless nights and time sacrificed to put them first. Happy Mothers Day to the greatest woman I know. See you soon! Love always, Sabrina