I believe that all moms are special and that all moms have a special understanding of what exactly it means to be M.O.M.  It is the quiet understanding of knowing just how exhausted each other is.  It is knowing that you can be up all night with your sick kid checking on their breathing and their temperature and still feel like it’s not enough.   When you see a child crying or throwing a tantrum and you just know how that mom feels while she is juggling groceries, her purse, diaper bag and other children.

You also know what it is to hear the word “mama” for the very first time and not have anything be able to duplicate the swelling in your heart you felt at that moment.  How about when your son throws his arms around your neck just because and gives you some butterfly kisses?  Or how about when you are so tired and you finally get your little one to bed and they reach over and ask if you can stay, so you do?  These are precious moments and seem too few but we get a day of being MOM all day and hopefully showered with love and surrounded by family.

Plus, being a mom means you get to show up at drop off for school in your pajamas with your hair in a ponytail, slippers and no make up.  Others may judge you but as a mom we have all been there and my little one simply does not care what I look like at 7:30 a.m. as long as he has been fed and gets to hold my hand on the way to his class.  That makes my heart smile.

Being a mom is special and being a mom to a cleft affected child is a privilege in its own right.  Your cleft affected child gets to teach about unconditional love.  Cleft affected children and their siblings have an innate ability to be empathetic, kind and unassuming with others.  Their own facial differences make them stronger and they make you stronger, too.  I love both of my children’s smiles.  My cleft affected son’s smile has changed from birth to now and will change again but that face of his is all ours!  He smiles all the time and that makes me smile, too.

Happy Mother’s Day!