05/06/2023
A mom will text her twenty-year-old child, letting him know it's going to rain and not to forget an umbrella.
She calls to see how the first day of school separation went for her grandkids and if her daughter made it to the car before tears streamed down her face.
She watches her daughter's baby, so she can shower and take care of her postpartum body.
She texts her forty-year-old son, making sure he’s home safe from a wedding because knowing that is still the only way she can sleep well.
She buys her thirty-four-year-old daughter Wetzel’s Pretzels when she goes to the mall because she knows how much her daughter loves them.
And no, she no longer needs to do these things, but she does them anyway.
Because a mother always wants to make life easier for her kids when she can, even when they’re capable, responsible humans and can do all the things for themselves.
And she always wants to know they’re safe.
Because mothering doesn’t stop when her kids turn eighteen, move far away, or have their own kids.
It just changes.
Image credits: Joolsannie Art
