A mother is...

I've spent a couple of days going through dozens and dozens of YouTube videos about mothers. I've been trying to find something uplifting to use in relief society on Mother's Day.  So many videos about being a mom, about loving the mother you have, and about how your children, spouses, and loved ones view motherhood. I'm actually finding it to be an uplifting experience and it's certainly got me thinking about my role as a mom. In particular about what makes me a mom. You would think that being pregnant and giving birth to my two children would be my mom experience, but as I look back I'm starting to realize that there was a mom inside of me for a very long time.

I felt like a mom when...

• I had a baby.  Obviously. 
• I wanted a baby.
• I first held a friends baby.
• I first felt love for somebody else's baby.
• In a tough situation I worried about my siblings, more than myself.
• My sister brought me her injured, crying baby.
• My sister needed my protection at 21, at 15, and even at 7 years old.
• At 12 I left my baby sister behind at school...and I cried tears of true grief over what I had done, not because of the act of forgetting, but because I realized the pain I felt in my guilt would never be enough to fix what I had done to her trust in me.

Motherhood isn't just about giving birth.
It's about love. It's about protection. It's about strength.

It's about being a woman.

I love my children more than I have the words to explain, but even without them, I would still be a woman worthy to be called MOTHER. As. Are. You.