# motherhood

I learn so much from other mothers and I want to honor their stories. This is the inaugural piece of my Telling Her Story series. Meet Sara. She lost her mother within weeks of welcoming her daughter. Her story of grief, acceptance, and unconditional love will inspire you.

The words we say to ourselves and to each other are so important. As we all become more informed about mental illness, we can all learn to be a source of validation and comfort. It starts simply with listening and discarding harmful platitudes.

When I first became a mother I would never have believed what I do now, that parenting can potentially be a portal of healing. As I mother in ways that I was not mothered, I get to rewrite the script. While this doesn't erase the past, it brings opportunity for peace to sit alongside the sadness.

I was prepared to possibly experience postpartum depression with my second. It didn't happen. Yet I was subconsciously bracing myself for something bad to happen. ER visits felt like an ominous sign. I didn't realize until after the fact that PTSD had quietly been infiltrating my thinking.

Meet my daughter, Avy. People often ask me how we came up with her name. Her big brother Ryker named her. I always thought he had simply made it up, and then he told me a story that makes me think they have been connected since before she was even born.