Before I became a mother, I had NO IDEA what freedom even meant. I mean, I thought I did, as in, “Red white and blue land of the free” freedom or “I don’t need no man” freedom.
But then I had my precious baby girl, and I realized how free I had been. So free that I didn’t even know it was free, free. I don’t mean freedom as in going to the bars on a Friday night, or spontaneously taking the day off to drive the hill country.
I mean freedom as in the ability to sit on the couch as soon as you get home from work because you’re exhausted and just need to take your bra off.
Freedom as in eating an extravagant dinner with your husband before 9 pm because you don’t have another human to take on a walk, bathe, read to, feed, and try to convince to sleep for more than 30 minutes so you can make something more than a bowl of cereal.
Freedom as in simply sleeping 8 hours UNINTERUPTED.
Freedom as in only having to wake up an hour before you leave for work, because you don’t have to tip toe around the house trying not to wake the baby before you can pee and change your underwear.
Freedom as in being able to leave your shopping cart alone in the grocery store because there is not a human in it.
Freedom as in not having to plan out every-single-minute of the day, because otherwise you’re a chicken running around with their head cut off.
But, when that tiny little butter bean smiles at me when she wakes up in the morning, I realize how not being “free” has made me grow into a strong woman.
Has given me confidence that I, indeed, CAN conquer the world.
That I SHOULD follow my dreams.
That life is too short.
And laughing is everything.
That moments in time are priceless.
Family is a gift.
And, I am the luckiest human on this damn planet.
