One Year

I don't think anyone will be surprised by the thing I'm most thankful for this Thanksgiving. Here's a hint: This was me last Thanksgiving.



Do I look miserable? It was 3 days before my due date, and one week before the most amazing experience of my entire life: The day I would meet my son and be forever changed.



Has it really been a year since Matt and I sat in our apartment for hours with no electricity, timing my contractions with my cell phone? Since we made the silent drive to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, feeling anxious about what waited for us there? Since I looked up at my husband thinking, "This is it. It's happening. Nothing will ever be the same." as my nurse told us it was time to push? Since I saw my baby and heard him cry for the first time? Since I stared into his sweet face, realizing that he looked like me, as I held him for the first time? It was so incredible.

So much has happened this past year, yet it has flown by. I've always found it strange that reality never feels quite real. Every single day I look at my son and I am blown away by the reality that he's here, he exists, and he's ours. This year has been the most significant and most challenging year of my life so far. What a serious honor and responsibility it is to be a mother; It's hardest thing I've ever done, but I certainly wouldn't change it. It moves me to tears when I reflect on this past year and on how much I love that little boy. Tyler is amazing. He's smart, adorable, strong-willed, clumsy, independent, wreckless, silly, curious, hilarious and has the most beautiful blue eyes and the sweetest smile that I have ever seen. Not to mention, his laugh is the most amazing sound I've ever heard. Matt has always told me that he'd do anything to make me laugh; I now understand this because I would do anything to hear my sweet baby boy's laughter. I'm so glad Tyler is exactly who he is.

"For what it's worth, it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of. If you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again."
--The Curious Case of Benjamin Button