This evening, while holding my girl in my arms, I had a realization. This precious child whose little body is so warm next to mine brings me a sense of myself that I never thought possible.

With her, her little arm determinedly reaching up to pull at the loose hairs from my disheveled ponytail, I feel confident and secure in being the mother that I am striving to be. She is growing and thriving each moment of the day, and every one of those fragments of time represent an occasion of success. With her undoubted growth and physical strength comes my own internal growth and strength. My little girl allows me to be the true me that I have been looking for, searching for, for quite some time. How I will show my gratitude to her, I just may never know.