Before

Before I became a Wife…
I didn’t know what it meant to sit next to someone in comfortable silence. I wouldn’t have known that so much could be said without even speaking a single word. I didn’t know that I didn’t have to use “all my words” for another to completely understand me.

Before I became a Wife…
I wouldn’t have followed someone on uncertain paths. I wouldn’t have trusted my life to another, going wherever, whenever, just as long as the journey was together. I wouldn’t have understood that someone could put my interests before his own, even if it meant courageously embracing the unknown.

Before I became a Wife…
I never knew that I could really mean it when I said, “In plenty and in want.” I didn’t understand that complete joy would come from who you have and not what you have. I didn’t know that when I said, "In sickness and in health", I would be able to offer empathetic attention to illness even when medical care made me entirely nauseous and uncomfortable.

Before I became a Wife…
I didn’t know it was possible to love more deeply with each passing day. I couldn’t have understood that with age comes great marital return; that with time comes great acceptance of dirty socks on the floor.



Before I became a Mom…
I didn’t understand the feeling of having my heart outside of my body. I didn’t think it possible to experience a heart so full without fear of it breaking in half.

Before I became a Mom…
I never knew I could be vomited on, pooped on or loved on in such frequency and abundance. I didn’t think it possible to wipe counters, wipe bottoms and wipe tears all while being wiped out.

Before I became a Mom…
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts. I didn’t know that it could be invaded with Star Wars episodes and Hello Kitty figurines or that complete sentences would not always come so effortlessly.

Before I became a Mom…
I didn’t know I could react so fiercely protective to my child’s hurt. I never knew my cat claws were so sharp or my growl so ferocious that I could scare away even the worse affronts with pure mommy instinct.

Before I became a Mom…
I could have never imagined a life full of such joy and complete blessing. I wouldn’t have understood what it meant to put the needs of others before my own while finding genuine acceptance and satisfaction that this was the way it was always meant to be.

Happy Valentine's Day,

Me