The Daily Hailey

Today is my moms birthday. She is the BEST mom I could ever imagine calling my own! The BEST mom to model much of my parenting after! The BEST mom to grow closer to through adulthood and become close friends with! And the BEST mom to have in my corner during this last stretch of life.

The last year has been radically different for my mom, and she has rolled with the punches more gracefully than anyone could have expected. As if 2020 wasn’t enough for her, our life turned upside down in February and she was THERE for it. She dropped EVERYTHING. She left her job. She moved in. I drove her car everyday, which she filled with gas. She watched the kids. She communicated with the outside world for me. She fed kids, bathed kids, and put kids to bed. She signed day planners and read books. On top of her own life, she took on mine and that of my five children, while I laid in bed in horrible anxiety, a shell of a human being.

She just knew what to do, and when to do it. She knew how long to stay and how to gracefully step back while making sure we were still cared for and content.

During this time, my children did not suffer in the ways we had expected. They had warm consistency and security with their grandma, without their dad, and with their mom barely there. ALL glory goes to God, of course, but He worked through her, and she was willing to put in that brutal hard work to keep us afloat.

If I can be a shred of the woman she is someday, I will have succeeded.

I feel truly grateful to be connected to this incredible woman. She is an example I watch closely, and value greatly. I want to be her when I grow up. Gentle. Thoughtful. Humble. Strong. The strongest woman I know, bar none. Persistently seeking God’s voice.

I love you dearly, mom. Words cannot express. I hope you feel celebrated and loved and truly cherished by your people today. 💜