The "Love Mother"

The little girl who calls me "mother" isn't related to me by blood. And my path to becoming her "mother" wasn't an easy one. It took several years of trying desperately to have my "own" child, one born from my own body. It took facing the possibility that it might never happen. It took a huge decision to leave the city and job I'd gotten used to. It took meeting and falling in love with a new man -- who just happened to be a single father of two children. It took the gracious and patient work of my husband and his ex to create an amicable relationship for the sake of that little girl. 

Although some steps on that path seemed mortally painful at the time, I'm so grateful for every one of them. That lovely little girl lives with us half of the week. She knows that technically I'm her "stepmother," but she's read enough fairy tales to reject the term since it usually has the word "evil" attached. Occasionally she calls me "Mama," but that's too confusing because that's what she calls her actual, blood mother, whom she loves like crazy. So she came up with her own term for me.

I'm her "love mother."

Being her love mother means more to me than I can ever express. The desire to love and take care of a child is so basic, but it can be expressed in a million different ways. Here's to everyone who offers love, time, protection, and attention to a child. Mothers, stepmothers, foster mothers, aunts, grandmothers, the list goes on. In the end, we're all "love mothers."

Happy "Love Mother" Day!