To the Mothers Who Kept Going

Motherhood is often described as beautiful, soft, and fulfilling.

But many mothers know another side of it too , the exhausting side, the lonely side, the side no one claps for.

The side where you are expected to keep showing up even when you are tired.
The side where you carry everyone’s needs while quietly abandoning your own.
The side where love looks less like flowers and more like sacrifice.

Some mothers are raising children while healing from their own childhood wounds.
Some are doing it alone.
Some are trying to stay emotionally present while life keeps testing them financially, mentally, and spiritually.

And yet, every morning, they rise again.

Not perfectly.
Not always joyfully.
But faithfully.

A mother’s love is not measured only in grand gestures.
Sometimes it is in the meals prepared while exhausted.
The silent prayers whispered at night.
The calls to check if you got home safely.
The worrying.
The patience.
The resilience.

Many mothers have carried entire families on shoulders no one noticed were breaking.

This Mother’s Day is not only for the mothers who seem strong.
It is also for the mothers who cry in private.
For the women who mother others without ever being appreciated.
For the first daughters who became caregivers too early.
For the women grieving children, grieving mothers, or grieving the version of themselves they lost while caring for everyone else.

You deserve softness too.
You deserve rest too.
You deserve to be cared for in the same way you care for others.

And to every mother reading this:
Thank you for the love that stayed even when life became difficult.
Thank you for the sacrifices nobody saw.
Thank you for continuing, even on the days you felt unseen.

May you find joy beyond responsibility.
May you experience love that pours back into you.
And may you remember that your existence has shaped lives more deeply than you may ever fully know.

Happy Mother’s Da

Fola A Adriel