I became a mother at barely 20 years old. It was not in the plans. But it was in the cards. And I played them. And I loved them. College could wait. I eventually got back to that goal.

Marrying your high school sweetheart at a young age and never living anywhere else was not what I had in mind for a life. I wanted to see the world. My husband had other ideas. He was a homebody. And besides, being poor will keep you close to home. So, we stayed.

By the time we were 25 we had two kids and a mortgage. But we lived in that little house for 20 years and the kids called it home. They could walk to the grade school, their friends were nearby, Boy Scouts met in my kitchen, if they weren’t on the ball diamond, and I taught most of the town to swim at the city pool where I worked. Babies played on that living room floor and eventually had their own rooms. A big dog helped me raise them and keep them safe.

We traveled some with the kids, but mostly we camped out or rented a cheap cabin. There wasn’t a lot of money, but there was love and we vacationed together.

I finally convinced my husband to buy a newer, bigger house about the time the kids moved out. And then we built a dining room which has now become the meeting place for the holidays, where I set up to feed 15 people. My two children went into the world and came back with more to love.

Motherhood was something I always wanted, but it came to me much more quickly than I planned. The best things in life are often that way. If you wait until the time is right, it might never be. I’ve loved being a mother and now a grandmother. Those travel plans came and went, but they didn’t compare to the experiences we had at home. Motherhood is to be celebrated and embraced. Sometimes it was tough, but we survived and were stronger for the tough times.

Thank you to my two children for making me a mother.

Happy Mother’s Day to you. What are you reading, writing, visiting, or creating this week?