There are two themes on my mind and heart this Mother’s Day: community and legacy.
I celebrated my first “official” mother’s day last year right around the time that I was really starting to come out of my new mom bubble.

My son at one month old. I am thankful every day to be  the mother to this spirited little boy! Photo credit: Katherine Miles Jones- 

I know that may sound weird given that my son is now almost 2 years old- really? it took you a year to be done with that phase? Yes. I mean… I did plenty during the first year of my son’s life. I directed and wrote shows and we had plenty of trips to the zoo and the park bur for the most part? We were fairly insulated within our little family. It’s what we needed as we learned how to cope with this huge life adjustment and as we shared so many firsts and so many moments of joy. I was exhausted that year but the idea of building  a community or finding other moms to reach out to aside from the few I knew a few times a year (most of my friends who are parents were long distance) seemed even more exhausting or even impossible.

Don’t get me wrong, I was so thankful for the immense I did have in my insular life: family-especially my mom and husband, the few very close friends I saw regularly, the long distance support I had via messenger apps or
phone calls, but this year I have been blessed to find and cultivate community of mothers at or near the same stage of parenting I am, or to strengthen the bond with those parents I already knew but wasn’t reaching out to for playdates or support.

So I wanted to write a post saying THANK YOU to all the moms I’ve bonded with this year. My life and my parenting are better because you are a part of it. Thank you for the messages, the playdates and playmates, the prayers, the words of encouragement when I hashtag an event in my life with #motheroftheyear which is really code for #momfail (luckily this encouragement lovingly comes from my non-parent friends too!) and perhaps above all for embracing community over competition.

And that brings me to the second theme: legacy. We had a special Mother’s Day celebration this year. I had a staycation with my mom and sister just the three of us. My mom thought of plenty of sweet details to celebrate the occasion: matching robes, drinks outside in the perfect weather, our favorite food for dinner… but my favorite thing we did was buy matching necklaces for the three of us as well as my grandma. I took my grandmas her necklace today and she was so happy to have me put it on. She is such a special lady and everyone is drawn to her kindness, joy, and consideration. We spent the afternoon talking about love, motherhood, and miracles and I can’t imagine a better way to spend this holiday. I strive to embrace those same great qualities she has and to pass them along to the next generation in our family.