How many times have I shrieked into the house calling my four boys to hurry outside to see the sunset? I’ve been a mother now for eleven years, and some days, it seems alien, impossible, and make-believe that the sky could streak so in violet and coral and flaming red. We run to the back porch, and we stand together, all of us: “Wow.”
Moments like this hang in the air, almost tangible. This gasping at the beauty with silent awe, it is a gift, and time stops, and I can look at them and see that before now, time has been whooshing by. Am I missing it? Am I enjoying them how I should?
The truth is that motherhood can be smooth, and I can have a tight handle on the reigns. At times, I believe I’m steering it well. Usually, though, I’m hanging on for dear life, and I go to bed wondering how I’ll keep going. I have no idea how life works, and here I am in charge of four young men.
Sometimes my husband, Seth, comes home from work and sees it in my eyes. I thought I would feel more secure in motherhood by now, but for me, it’s a moment-to-moment process of letting go and guessing and praying.
When I first birthed three boys in three years, Seth decided to give me the gift of encouragement for Christmas, and he asked mothers around the world to join him. He gave me a book full of hundreds of letters of encouragement, all from a mom to a mom. I believe so many wrote me letters because as they were writing to me, they found they were writing to themselves. The Mother Letters is the kindest gift I’ve ever received.
Now just before Mother’s Day, some of these letters are in print, and as I read them again, my backbone feels a little stronger, and I know I’m not alone. The Mother Letters will be the perfect gift at baby showers and to the women in your life who need a word of encouragement. Don’t we all?
The sun doesn’t set like a watercolor painting every day, and that’s okay. So much of this journey is a gift, and I’m grateful that The Mother Letters helps me see it that way.
Amber C Haines is the mother of four sons, the author of Wild in the Hollow, curator of The Mother Letters with her husband, Seth Haines, and a blogger at theRunaMuck.
Read sample letters or order now. Available wherever books are sold.
This book sounds wonderful. Encouragement from other moms who have gone before is priceless. A great gift