This spring marks our 5th Belly Bootcamp outdoor season. I can’t believe it’s been 4 full years and already onto the 5th. We’ve had the pleasure of training so many amazing women that I rarely go to a park, farmers’ market or family event without running into at least one of our Belly Bootcampers. I’m always amazed to see their little ones’ growth, as I tend to keep their babies frozen in my mind at whatever age or stage they might have been when we first met. Seeing other people’s children grow up makes me realize that my children, too, are growing older.
Seeing my children grow older makes me realize that I, too, am aging.
This Friday my first baby, and favourite girl in the world, will turn six years old. WTF?
6 is so beyond the baby stage that I feel my head is spinning. Didn’t she just start JK, and now we’re onto actual grades this fall…? Screw that – Didn’t she just ARRIVE? Where has the time gone, and have I used it the best that I could? Have I loved enough, taught enough, cuddled enough, played enough, sung enough, disciplined enough, modelled enough?
While you may not be celebrating a birthday this week, I am sure most of you will be celebrating Mother’s Day. Maybe even your very first Mother’s Day. I hope you will be kind to yourself and enjoy your special day, and reflect on your own mother through the understanding eyes of one who loves her child.
I know now, six years in, that time flies with our little ones but motherhood never stops.
I know that I appreciate my mother more than ever before in my life. I know she must wake up sometimes and wonder where the last 32 years went, just as I marvel at the passage of 6. Motherhood doesn’t stop just because a child reaches 18 years, or has her own child. At least I hope not, because I plan to hold onto my babies a lot longer than that.
I love this beautiful poem by Guillermo Pena of Spain, and the gorgeous photo that was published with the poem.
Love and hugs to you and your babies and mothers.
xo
D.
letter_from_mother_to_daughter
Letter from a Mother to her Daughter
My dear girl, the day you see I’m getting old, I ask you to please be patient, but most of all, try to understand what I’m going through.
If when we talk, I repeat the same thing a thousand times, don’t interrupt to say: “You said the same thing a minute ago”… Just listen, please. Try to remember the times when you were little and I would read the same story… night after night until you would fall asleep.
When I don’t want to take a bath, don’t be mad and don’t embarrass me. Remember when I had to run after you making excuses and trying to get you to take a shower when you were just a girl?
When you see how ignorant I am when it comes to new technology, give me the time to learn and don’t look at me that way… remember, honey, I patiently taught you how to do many things like eating appropriately, getting dressed, combing your hair and dealing with life’s issues every day…
The day you see I’m getting old, I ask you to please be patient, but most of all, try to understand what I’m going through.
If I occasionally lose track of what we’re talking about, give me the time to remember, and if I can’t, don’t be nervous, impatient or arrogant. Just know in your heart that the most important thing for me is to be with you.
And when my old, tired legs don’t let me move as quickly as before, give me your hand the same way that I offered mine to you when you first walked.
When those days come, don’t feel sad… just be with me, and understand me while I get to the end of my life with love. I’ll cherish and thank you for the gift of time and joy we shared.
With a big smile and the huge love I’ve always had for you, I just want to say, I love you… my darling daughter.
Original Text in Spanish and Photo by Guillermo Peña.Translation to English by Sergio Cadena
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