photo #7948864

I knew you before the world did, before your name was spoken aloud. I felt your heart beneath my ribs, a quiet rhythm that changed everything. I gave you my body, my strength, my sleepless nights, my silent prayers. I traced the curve of your fingers, marveling at how something so small could take up so much space in me. I held you through fevers and fears, rocked you when the world was too much. Your tears soaked my skin, but I never minded. I would have taken every pain for you, if life had let me. You grew. And with every step away, my heart stretched and pulled, breaking in places you will never see. But I smiled anyway, because that’s what mothers do. One day, you won’t need my hands to guide you, won’t turn back to see if I’m watching. And I’ll stand there, the same way I always have, loving you in silence, loving you in full. Because a mother’s love isn’t measured in moments kept, but in every piece of herself she gives away.