Oh The Things I Didn't Know

I remember being told countless times growing up that I would one day know and appreciate what my parents went through raising me.

"One day, you will have children of your own, and you will understand."

That sentence was like an irritating broken record that had absolutely no chance of coming to fruition because I was nothing like my parents. Oh, the painful realization of just how wrong you could be that hits when you become comfortable in parenthood. I eat crow every single time I 'understand'.

Aside from the sobering realization that I am not nearly as different from my mother as I once thought I would be, the appreciation, love, and admiration I have for her has multiplied beyond what I might ever have imagined possible. That 'one day' came and has never left me. I understand implicitly and I am in awe of everything she did (and still does) for my sisters and me.

I no longer doubt the things I hear of what is to come or how I will understand 'when...' because the door to believing her words is permanently open. I can already imagine what it will be to have grandchildren one day, just from watching her with her grandchildren. There is a sense of what my 50s, 60s, and retirement hold, as I've walked alongside her through these things.

My relationship with my mother has benefitted greatly from becoming a parent myself and has better prepared for all that is to come. I'm pretty certain I can handle whatever comes my way. After all, I finally 'understand'.