When I became a mother, I was terrified. How could I be entrusted with such precious beings? How would I ever live up to their right to live and grow into their dreams? I had no idea how I would manage, or even if I could. But I took a breath, and every day I continued to breathe through the fear, the pain, the anxiety, and the absolute conviction that I was failing, again and again. Yet, in those breaths, I also found the joy, the love, the absolute miracle of motherhood.

There are moments where I surpassed even my own fears, where I rose to the challenges, and there were moments where I fell, hard. There were moments to celebrate and moments I regret. Yet, even in that regret, I know that being a mother to my daughters is the greatest challenge and joy I have ever faced. I do not regret one single moment of this journey.

Too often, while working at a family homeless shelter, I witnessed one of the most heartrending scenes—a mother arriving with her one-day-old infant in her arms. Despite the often overwhelming struggles with addiction and poverty, the mothers’ desires mirrored my own: to want only the best for their child. She, too, carried dreams for her newborn, a poignant reminder that the hopes we hold for our children bind us together, transcending circumstances.

Becoming a mother was transformative for me. Thanks to my two amazing daughters, I was gifted the opportunity to heal, grow, and evolve into the woman I am today. Being a mother is the daily choice to accept my fallibilities, to learn to love myself—beauty and beast, warts and wounds, wisdom—and to forgive myself and begin again to learn, grow, change, and expand, time and time again.

Every child, including you and me, has come into this world through a mother’s womb. This Mother’s Day, let us honour all the wombs that gave birth, and all the arms that held, soothed, and loved a child, whether from your womb or another’s. May today remind you of how precious, beautiful, loved, and loving you are. You are magnificent.

Thank you to my mother and her mother’s mothers for this gift of life. Thank you to my daughters for the gift of seeing myself through Love’s eyes.