![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ccano.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/MotherDay-100x133.jpg\")
I got a text from my best friend last week that said, \u201cWhat do you want to do for Mother\u2019s Day?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\nI got a text from my best friend last week that said, \u201cWhat do you want to do for Mother\u2019s Day?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
I texted back: \u201cWow.\u201d<\/p>\n
It hadn\u2019t hit me. My first Mother\u2019s Day.\u00a0 In a whirlwind of firsts, here was one I hadn\u2019t considered until Catholic Charities gave me this opportunity to reflect.\u00a0 But let me start at the beginning.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m Leigh and Maggie is my daughter.\u00a0 Catholic Charities and their wonderful adoption program has helped to make us a family.\u00a0 I found out Maggie existed on a Thursday. I learned she would be mine – I would be hers – on a Monday while sitting in a Zoom meeting for work.\u00a0 The first person I told was my work colleague and when she asked how she could help I said, \u201cCan you cover my 3 o\u2019clock?\u201d<\/p>\n
By Tuesday Maggie was in my arms.\u00a0 When I walked into the hospital to meet her, she was this tiny baby, just 2 weeks old, all bundled up in a swing.\u00a0 I sat on the floor in front of her and cried. The nurse cried; our representative from Catholic Charities cried.\u00a0 The baby was the only one who didn\u2019t<\/em> cry.\u00a0 I remember the nurse asked, \u201cWould you like to hold her?\u201d And I think I responded, \u201cCan I?\u201d<\/p>\n It takes a while for it to sink in.\u00a0 This miracle in front of me was mine – mine to love, mine to care for, mine to keep safe.\u00a0 She was a dream for so long – a lifetime of dreams – and now she was a reality.\u00a0 The next time I buzzed to come back to her room at the hospital the nurse casually answered, \u201cCome on in Mama.\u201d And there it was.\u00a0 Mama.\u00a0 I was a Mama.\u00a0 I was Maggie\u2019s Mama.<\/p>\n When you adopt a child, one of the most common questions you hear is \u201cHow long did the process take?\u201d My response is corny but heartfelt when I tell them, \u201cExactly how long it was supposed to take because it was always meant to be Maggie. I was always meant to be Maggie\u2019s Mama.\u201d<\/p>\n Since that chilly Thursday in December Maggie and I have been nonstop, and my family and friends have been along for the ride.\u00a0 As the first baby in my friend group and the first one in 17 years for my family, to say that our village is excited would be an understatement.\u00a0 You can\u2019t go through the process of adoption without a strong support system and mine has exceeded my wildest expectations.\u00a0 My mom (Maggie\u2019s GG), my brothers and sisters-in-law, my five amazing, wonderful nieces, my best friends, my colleagues – so many people have shown up with their time, their prayers, their food, and, oh my goodness, their baby clothes.<\/p>\n Together Maggie and I have been to parades and symphonies and Pels games. We\u2019ve planted Maggie roses and had long (albeit one-sided) conversations about the mysteries of baking bread.\u00a0 We\u2019ve met her birth family and celebrated Maggie\u2019s milestones with them.\u00a0 At just five months old, Maggie and I are already in negotiations about her first pet.\u00a0 We\u2019re ready for Jazz Fest and planning her first road trip.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n When I dreamed of becoming a mom, I thought a lot about showing a child this beautiful, beautiful world.\u00a0 I wrote in my adoption book about the fun we would have and the places we would see.\u00a0 What I didn\u2019t expect, what I didn\u2019t realize, is that she <\/em>would be the one showing me <\/em>true beauty and grace.<\/p>\n Because when I think about Maggie and I\u2019s first Mother\u2019s Day and I reflect on the past 5 months of motherhood, it’s not the world that comes to mind first.\u00a0 It\u2019s me and her.\u00a0 It’s the snuggles before bedtime when she\u2019s sleepy and clean from her bath and ready for a book.\u00a0 It\u2019s her smile when she sees me or how she lights up when she recognizes family and friends.\u00a0 It\u2019s the giggles coming through the monitor when she wakes up from a nap.\u00a0 It\u2019s the confusion and wonder in her eyes the first time I sat her in grass and the anticipation of introducing her to sand.\u00a0 Small moments, to be sure, but to me, nothing less than miraculous.<\/p>\n Happy Mother\u2019s Day, Maggie.\u00a0 Thank you for being mine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I got a text from my best friend last week that said, \u201cWhat do you want to do for Mother\u2019s Day?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 I texted back: \u201cWow.\u201d It hadn\u2019t hit me. My…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":20594,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[262],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20662","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-blog"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n