On the Eve of Becoming a Brother

Let me hold you one last time.

You were my first.

You have forever changed me.

You made my heart grow.

You will always carry a piece of my heart.

But my heart is about to grow again

and soon there will be two where one once stood.

Every laugh. Every hug. Every kiss.

I cherish these memories we have made,

the stories we read and the secrets we share.

Nobody will ever come between us or replace you.

Our bond will never be broken

but new bonds will be formed;

Me to your brother and you to him, also.

I know your heart will grow, too.

You will lead your brother, your confidant, your friend.

You will teach him. You will guide him.

You will always be there for him

and he will be there for you.

He will love you. He will look up to you.

You will be his hero in so many ways

because you were the first.

Our family of three will become a family of four.

Remember that your father and I will always love you.

You were our first.

Comments

Be Here

I read a book recently that reminded me if we are always waiting for the next good thing -- a "better" house, a "better" job, a "better" location, a "better" spouse, the next vacation, your child's next developmental milestone -- you are never fully in the moment and, therefore, you never fully appreciate what you have. We live in a society that teaches us that bigger is better, surplus is superior to enough, wants are more important than our needs, and the next step will make us happier than where we are. But what happens when you reach that next step? Is all that glitters gold? Does chasing happiness bring us joy? Or does reaching that next step leave us in search of the next best thing? The next hit? The next high? What would life look like, then, if we put our focus on where we are? If we chose joy in any and all circumstances? I'm not saying that we should not have goals to improve ourselves or that we do not deserve to be happy. W...

Chasing Perfect

With the new year right around the corner, you are undoubtedly about to face a flurry of New Year's resolutions plastered across your social media feeds. You may even be scribbling your own goals and resolutions in your daily journal, or sharing them with a loved one for accountability. Goals are great. I think we should all set goals and regularly reassess them and measure our progress... but when it comes to setting that New Year's resolution, I have a challenge for you. As the hours turn to minutes, and the seconds tick by on the countdown to our new year and new selves, I want you to ask yourself what it is that you want from 2019. Do you want to be the perfect mom (does that even exist)? The perfect spouse? The perfect disciple? Do you want a perfect body? Maybe you want to find the perfect job or the perfect house or the perfect [enter object here] that will finally make you happy. I have chased the perfect body. I have chased the perfect wife. I am constantly...

A Celebration of Birth

As a way of commemorating the birth of my first son, I shared my birth story publicly on this blog on his first birthday. Birth is something that is not often talked about in polite conversation, and as a newly expecting mother 4 years ago, I had very few friends with kids to talk to (or at least that I felt comfortable talking to about labor and childbirth). I would like to keep that tradition going on the first birthday of my second son so that any expecting mother who comes across this blog will know that not all births are created equal. But it is the unexpected things you can't plan for that make childbirth amazing. Here is my story... If each pregnancy is a fruit, my first was an apple and my second was an orange. My first pregnancy was sweet and enticing. Everything was easy. I went day to day blissfully aware of this miracle of life growing inside of me, but I was able to carry on with my regular activities. I was in the gym four or five times a wee...

Kelly Trepp, Author

Search This Blog