She looked in the mirror.
She didn’t recognize herself.
She saw the late nights adorning her undereyes.
She saw the early mornings encompassing her once glowing complexion.
She saw the imperfections in what used to be muscle tone.
She saw the skin bunched over the scar across her stomach.
She saw wrinkles. So many wrinkles.
She saw the stretch marks.
The extra weight.
She saw all of it.
She looked in the mirror.
She didn’t recognize herself.

But then.
She looked again.

She looked in the same mirror.
She saw all the nights spent snuggling and singing nightmares away.
She saw the mornings spent with pitter-pattering feet running to give morning hugs before the sun came up.
She saw a body capable of growing, nurturing and creating humans, stronger than any muscle cultivated by hours in a gym.
She saw the c-section scar, her battle scar, where small people were physically cut out of her body.
She saw a memory in every wrinkle, knowing they appeared there by countless hours of selfless love.
She saw tiger stripes from where her body stretched beyond anything she ever thought possible, then attempted to un-stretch back into place.
She saw a woman with a few extra pounds, but also recognized she is no longer the girl who obsessed over the perfect size.

She looked in the mirror.
She saw a mother.
And she gave herself grace.

She is me.
She is you.
And she is perfect just the way she is.

Love & Hugs Mamas,
Nicki, Momming all the Boys