More Than Birth: What Being a Mother Means to Me

Today is Mother’s Day, and I want to take a moment to reflect on what motherhood truly means to me.

Being a mother isn’t just about biologically giving birth—though that in itself is powerful, painful, sacrificial, beautiful, and nothing short of miraculous. I would never take away from the experience of carrying and delivering a child. But to me, motherhood goes so far beyond that one moment.

Because if all you do is give birth and walk away, then you’ve missed the heart of what it means to mother.

Motherhood is about showing up. It’s about nurturing, protecting, teaching, guiding, loving, sacrificing, and supporting a life outside of your own. It’s being the one a child depends on—for food, shelter, comfort, direction, and love. It's staying up late and getting up early. It's wiping tears and cheering from the sidelines. It's hearing “Mom” 100 times in a row and still answering. It’s putting yourself last again because your child needed something first.

One of the first lessons I learned as a mom was: It’s no longer just about you.

That doesn’t mean you don’t matter. That doesn’t mean you don’t get to have joy, fun, self-care, or peace. It means you now have to consider someone else in every move you make. You’ve got a life that looks to you for safety, answers, and love—and that’s a weight and a gift all in one.

Sometimes we lose ourselves in the role. We overextend, overcompensate, and forget that we’re human too. But I want to remind every mother reading this: you deserve grace too. You deserve to be nurtured the way you nurture. You deserve moments to rest, to reset, and to just be.

So today, I want to say Happy Mother’s Day to:

• Biological moms

• Bonus moms

• Godmothers

• Grandmothers

• Aunties who stepped up

• Adoptive moms

• Mentors

• And every woman who has mothered a child with love

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There’s no one way to be a mother—but all of it matters. All of it is love.

Take a moment for yourself today. You are seen. You are needed. You are magic.

Cheers to you, because mothers make the world go round.