By: Lora Wimsatt
From the time you saw the little blue “plus sign” on the pregnancy test stick, it was love.
From the time you heard the watery “th-thump” of the heartbeat at the doctor’s office, it was love.
From the time you saw that shadowy outline on the sonogram, it was love.
From the time you felt something like butterflies fluttering in your tummy, it was love.
From the time you pushed and cried and sweated and squeezed your husband’s hand, it was love.
From the time you held that damp, wrinkled, squawling baby, it was love.
From the time you watched in fascination as those rosebud lips nursed, it was love.
From the time you dressed your baby in those impossibly tiny, awesomely adorable outfits, it was love.
From the time the baby first said “Ma-ma” and “Da-da,” it was love.
From the time those chubby arms went around your neck and a wet kiss was planted on your cheek, it was love.
And –
When the baby cries … and cries … and cries … all night, it’s still love.
When the diaper leaks on your best outfit, it’s still love.
When you go back to work and your boss discretely inquires about the spit-up stain on the shoulder of your blouse, it’s still love.
When exploring little hands shove a puzzle piece into the DVD player, it’s still love.
When you juggle baby and purse and diaper bag and groceries and keys, and binky falls to the ground and you have to figure out a way to bend over and pick it up without dropping everything else, it’s still love.
When playful little hands unravel a whole roll of bathroom tissue, it’s still love.
When everyone in the restaurant stares as you slink away to the restroom with your tantrum-throwing child, it’s still love.
When curious little hands delete all the apps on your smartphone, it’s still love.
When you listen to the adventures of Dora the Explorer so many times you find yourself humming “Do-do-do-do-do-Dora!” while standing in line at the bank, it’s still love.
When you stand at the corner and wave good-bye until the big yellow school bus disappears from sight even though your child is “too cool” now to wave back, it’s still love.
From the very beginning, it was love.
And somewhere along the way, you realize there is no ending.
It will always be love.