The choice to expend more gratitude into the world is one easily made. For me, spending seven consecutive days discussing the things that I am thankful for and appreciative of is exciting. My hope is that you will carry on in these footsteps and open up about the things you are grateful for. In doing so, you can put the words out into the universe and grow to be someone free from fear. And thrive.
One of my favorite quotes comes from John F. Kennedy, “as we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them.” My journey through these seven days of gratitude is to gain perspective, put more love out into the world, and be free from fears that keep me stuck in a stagnant life. I want to live in gratitude.
With that said, let’s dive into 7 days of Gratitude: Day 1: Kameron.
Anyone who knows me will tell you that I love being a mom. I constantly talk to whomever will listen about my kids; their first words, their talents, their abilities to make me laugh so hard my sides ache. Yes, I even tell them about all my mommy fails. You know, the times my kids make me want to curl up in the closet and cry. But these seem few and far between for me. In the grand scheme of things, being a mom is my main gig ad God keeps me grounded in it. He leads me to so many moments of love with regards to all six of my kids.
One of the greatest moments of my life was the one in which I became a full-fledged mommy for the first time. The urban dictionary defines mom as being “the one who loves you unconditionally from birth, the one who puts her kids before herself, and the one you can always count on above everyone else.” I think it is important to know this definition because it is how I look at what a mom is and should be.
It has been over fifteen years but I can still remember the day Kameron Alexis came into my life.
It was an early September morning and I was almost two weeks overdue. My stress test was scheduled for that morning. They were going to see how the baby was doing. It was determined that the baby was swimming around in an amniotic sac that was leaking. They would need to induce labor right away. Overwhelming fear hit me like a ton of bricks. Then, the excitement came. We were going to meet our baby soon. Would it be a boy or a girl? We wanted to be surprised and the anticipation was building.
I will spare you the gory detail of epidurals that didn’t work, the eight student doctors that came in to watch (because it was a teaching hospital), the hours and hours of labor, and all the things that happen when a woman has a baby for the first time. The end result is all that matters anyway. Kameron came into the world on September 4, 2003. She was 8 pounds, 19 inches long, and had a full head of hair ad long nails. Probably because she was overcooked by almost two weeks. Her beautiful face starred back at me and made the pain of 36 hours of labor with 3 hours of pushing her out of me disappear.
The level of gratitude for being Kameron’s mom is something I can not express in words. She has graced my life with laughter and joy. Her creative mind and talents are amazing, and God gifted her were the voice of an angel. Even though her teenage years have proven to be tough terrain, I am forever grateful for my Kameron.