Hindsight’s 20/20 isn’t it? Especially when you’re looking back on your own childhood when you're a new parent. When we're new parents, we're automatically endowed with these new insights, new feelings on responsibility and family, and, well, the acute knowledge that we owe our parents (or parent or grandmother or caregiver) one hell of an apology. If you grew up with a present and supportive mother, becoming a parent will inevitably make you think about her, and end up forcing you to say all the things every new mother should say to her own mom.
Seriously though, I’m sure it comes as no surprise that becoming a mom made me think back on my own relationship with my mother. She lives over 300 miles away, but has managed to maintain a steady presence in my son’s life since he arrived thanks to semi-reasonably priced flights, our modern highway system, and the marvels of technology (FaceTime and endless video calls for the win). As a result, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to consider everything that moms do for their kids, and everything they do when their kids have kids (shout-out to my dad, too, although that’s another conversation for another day).
Now that I'm in the throes of motherhood, I realize that my mother really did know what's best and she really did have my best interests at heart and she really didn't want me to be miserable for the rest of my life. Basically, I realized that I owe my mother a big apology, among other things, like: