The One Person Who Brightens My Rough Days

When I’m having a rough day there’s only one person who can make it better

Spoiler alert: My mom.

I was feeling off the other day. Something wasn’t right, and I couldn’t seem to put my finger on it or kick it for that matter. As the day progressed, it didn’t get much better. It was a typical day for us, with the usual 2-year-old meltdowns and chaos that happens when you have two babies close in age. Nothing was out of the norm, but I just wasn’t feeling completely like myself. And right after getting my daughters to bed, when I was alone with my thoughts, the feelings intensified. Through the silence, I heard a soft and familiar voice criticizing my mothering, telling me “You don’t do anything right.” “You are failing your kids.” My anxiety was attacking me, knowing I am weakest on my own. But I knew what I needed to do. So I took out my phone and dialed, listening to the ringing on the other end.

Waiting for the person who always comforts me.

Who always makes everything better. Who has the magic words when it comes to calming my soul. “Hi.” She answered the phone.

“Hi Mom,” I said, as my voice cracked. I can mask my pain for everyone—but her.

“Everything is going to be okay,” she reassured me from over the phone as I broke down to her. I hung up feeling so much better. Because—truly—there is nothing in this entire world like a mother’s reassurance. I know that not everyone has this kind of relationship with her mother. That, I am indeed one of the lucky ones—but we can all hope to become this for our own children. And you, mama, contract that magic right when you give birth . This magic doesn’t make you perfect and all-knowing. No, you don’t have all the answers. No one has that. You just need to be you—your sweet baby’s mama. That title comes with that last push or lift out of the womb. It could also come if your baby is handed over through adoption or surrogacy. It doesn’t matter the means, the magic comes the second your baby is placed into your arms. It comes with a force so strong it leaves a mark on your heart. It transforms you into a mother. You are enough just by being that person who opens her arms and accepts this baby as yours forever. Your soft-skinned newborn is placed on your chest, shrieking, tears dripping down her cheeks and onto her pout. The little muscles in her chin trembling with such force, her face is on the verge of turning bright red. Then you cuddle her close and feed her. “Everything is going to be okay.” She finds peace in the warmth of your body, her skin on your skin. There is nothing like a mother’s reassurance.

When your baby becomes a toddler , and he falls and gets his first scrape, screaming, because it’s a new kind of painful sensation—an open wound. “Everything is going to be okay,” you say to slow his tears and scoop him up into your arms. You clean that scratch out and apply Neosporin. You put a Band-Aid on, sealed with a kiss, and wipe away his tears. You will always be there to pick him up when he falls—literally, now…and figuratively, in the future when he is grown. There is nothing like a mother’s reassurance. When she goes to her first day of preschool , and you have to separate from each other. She cries as you hold your tears back, as you assure her, “Everything is going to be okay. Mommy always comes back.” And of course, you do, and you hold onto those words yourself—repeating them to stay strong. Because when you are together, everything is right again. You let her go because it’s the right thing to do. There is nothing like a mother’s reassurance. When he gets his heart broken for the first time, he will feel like the only person that truly knew him has abandoned him. He’ll feel as if he will never find that again. He may not have the proper coping mechanisms yet to deal with that level of pain.

He comes to you in tears over losing the love of his life. You comfort him and assure him “Everything is going to be okay.” Because you know this as fact because he is the love of your life. And, one day, if he has a child—he will feel the same way. There is nothing like a mother’s reassurance. When life kicks her in the rear-end. When she is struggling to find her place in this wild world, feeling so alone. When she needs support. She doesn’t ask you directly, but your mom intuition whispers to you, pulling on that mark on your heart, and so—you make the call. “Everything is going to be okay,” you say into the phone. The sky won’t fall and Chicken Little will not witness the world ending because she can’t figure it all out right this second. Finding her place in this world will take time, but it will happen. Right now, and for always, you are her safe place, her landing pad. One day our babies may have babies of their own. When they are sad they will say, “Everything is going to be okay.” They will know that sometimes all our children need is reassurance from us— their safe place . Their soul-soother. Their heart.