You Did the Work
I want to start with something Lin Yutang said: “Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother.” I love this quote because it doesn’t talk about perfect motherhood. It doesn’t list everything a good mother does. It simply says — this choice, this path, this calling — is the greatest thing you could have chosen.
You could have been anything. You had options. You have a mind, gifts, talents, a personality that the world could have used in a hundred different directions. And you chose this. You chose to be the one in the room every day with your children.
That was not an accident. That was a choice. And it is worth naming out loud.
Every September, we start with such hope. A new plan. A new curriculum. And then October happens. And February happens. By the end of the year, many of us only see what didn’t get finished.
But that is not the whole story. Not even close.
I want to tell you about the mom who almost quit — and the morning she opened the books again anyway.