Last Vestiges of Me

I took this picture as a sort of "last remembrance" of me before motherhood. (And it was quite a challenge to get a shot that didn't show any real evidence of my very pregnant body!) I took it to remind myself of who I am, who I have been, and to anticipate who I will become. While I am eager to embrace being a Mom, I also am fully aware that a part of me will be permanently gone, forever changed, and will never return. This is a huge passage in life, similar to marriage, and while the changes will be grand and shape and model me in new and wonderful ways, there are things that I will leave behind. I will miss some of the old me, but I eagerly await the new me that will come from experiencing the joys, challenges, frustrations and miracles of being a mother.

[And on that waiting to be a mother note, Sylvia has not yet designated a birthday, but after talking with the nurse yesterday on the phone giving her the updates of the last 24 hours, she "assured" me that it should be within a day or two. We'll see. I remain skeptically hopeful.]